Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Sometimes maybe you need an experience. The experience can be a person or it can be a drug. The experience opens a door that was there all the time but you never saw it. Or maybe it blasts you into outer space.

Fat Kid Rules the World

by K. L. Going

Troy Billings is seventeen, 296 pounds, friendless, utterly miserable, and about to step off a New York subway platform in front of an oncoming train. Until he meets Curt MacCrae, an emaciated, semi-homeless, high school dropout guitar genius, the stuff of which Lower East Side punk rock legends are made. Never mind that Troy’s dad thinks Curt’s a drug addict and Troy’s brother thinks Troy’s the biggest... (more)

The Real Frank Zappa Book (Picador Books)

The Real Frank Zappa Book (Picador Books)

by Frank Zappa

The brash and outrageously funny autobiography of music legend Frank Zappa--now in trade paperback. Here is the real story of how he became the state of the art in weirdness, as only he can tell it: wild rock 'n' roll road stories, confrontations with bureaucratic idiocy, and more. Black-and-white photographs and line drawings throughout.

This Land Is Your Land (Collection of Woody Guthrie Songs)

This Land Is Your Land (Collection of Woody Guthrie Songs)

by Woody Guthrie

Since its debut in the 1940s, Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" has become one of the best-loved folk songs in America. Now, for the first time, the classic ballad is brought to life in a richly illustrated edition for the whole family to share.

The Relatives Came

by Cynthia Rylant

In a rainbow-colored station wagon that smelled like a real car, the relatives came. When they arrived, they hugged and hugged from the kitchen to the front room. All summer they tended the garden and ate up all the strawberries and melons. They plucked banjos and strummed guitars. When they finally had to leave, they were sad, but not for long. They all knew they would be together next summer.

The House You Pass on the Way

by Jacqueline Woodson

Staggerlee is used to being alone. As the granddaughter of celebrities and the daughter of an interracial couple in an all-black town, she has become adept at isolating herself from curious neighbors. But then her cousin, Trout, comes to visit. Trout is exactly like Staggerlee wishes she could be: outspoken, sure of herself, beautiful. Finally, Staggerlee has a friend, someone she can share her deepest, most... (more)

Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965-2001Paul McCartney, Adrian Mitchell

Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965-2001

by Adrian Mitchell, Paul McCartney

The hardcover publication of Blackbird Singing , the first collection of Paul McCartney's poems and lyrics, was an international cultural event—celebrated in concert halls, at literary festivals, and in newspapers and magazines throughout the world. "While McCartney is of a completely different cast than Bob Dylan, his appeal may be even greater than that of the latter great poet-songwriter," wrote Publishers... (more)

Dance

by Keith Haring

Images of hearts and lovers figure prominently in his artistic vocabulary. Love collects forty of his most lovely images and combines them with You!, a love poem written by Haring as a teenager. For lovers of any age, Love expresses in pictures what cannot be said in words. Dance was a major influence on Haring, and collected here are forty of his most compelling images of dance in all its various expressions.... (more)

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock

Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock

by Gene Odom

The first complete, unvarnished history of Southern rock’s legendary and most popular band, from its members’ hardscrabble boyhoods in Jacksonville, Florida and their rise to worldwide fame to the tragic plane crash that killed the founder and the band’s rise again from the ashes. In the summer of 1964 Jacksonville, Florida teenager Ronnie Van Zant and some of his friends hatched the idea of forming a band to... (more)

Broadway Chicken

by Jean-Luc Fromental

Charlie's career as a dancing chicken leads him from a New York City arcade to Hollywood fame and back again.

Ellington Was Not a Street (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner)

Ellington Was Not a Street (Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner)

by Ntozake Shange

In a reflective tribute to the African-American community of old, noted poet Ntozake Shange recalls her childhood home and the close-knit group of innovators that often gathered there. These men of vision, brought to life in the majestic paintings of artist Kadir Nelson, lived at a time when the color of their skin dictated where they could live, what schools they could attend, and even where they could sit on a... (more)

Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller

by Marshall Chapman

Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller is an inventive and original book from Nashville singer/songwriter Chapman, who uses twelve of her most resonant songs as entry points to many of her life's adventures. Not a memoir, but a map of the places Chapman's been and what went through her mind as she was traveling there, this book is funny and tender, warm and exuberant. Raised a debutante in Spartanburg, South... (more)

Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country and Western Music

Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country and Western Music

by Holly George-Warren

Discover the surprising beginnings and humble origins of the charismatic pioneers who helped shape the country-and-western scene into the influential musical empire it is today. Included among this collection of legends are Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and more unforgettable people who changed the face of music forever!

You're the Reason Our Kids are Ugly and Other Gems of Country MusicMerrit and Rose, Emerald Malloy

You're the Reason Our Kids are Ugly and Other Gems of Country Music

by Merrit and Rose, Emerald Malloy

The School house Rock Songbook

10 unforgettable songs from the classic television educational series, now experiencing a booming resurgence in popularity from Generation X'ers to today's kids! Includes: I'm Just a Bill * Conjunction Junction * Lolly, Lolly, Lolly (Get Your Adverbs Here) * The Great American Melting Pot * and more.

Grandpa Blows His Penny Whistle Until the Angels Sing

Grandpa Blows His Penny Whistle Until the Angels Sing

by Susan L. Roth

With this prolix tale Roth (Happy Birthday, Mr. Kang) delivers some of her most accomplished collages; unfortunately the writing is as muddled as the art is strong. As his sister tells it, Little Boy James refuses to get dressed for church ("Grandpa never goes and I'm not going either"). He defies his mother, riding the horse bareback, walking along the top of the corral fence and climbing a ladder to reach the... (more)

The Book of Rock Stars: 24 Musical Icons That Shine Through History

The Book of Rock Stars: 24 Musical Icons That Shine Through History

by Kathleen Krull

Twenty-four of the greatest figures of rock 'n' roll are celebrated with in-depth mini-biographies and colorful accompanying block prints. Noted nonfiction writer Kathleen Krull has distilled the essence of each musician or band and brought them to life with behind-the-scenes stories, facts, and entertaining anecdotes. Acclaimed printmaker Stephen Alcorn takes up where words leave off with bold and graphic images... (more)

Grease Novel

by Ron De Christoforo

AFTER TWENTY YEARS, GREASE IS STILL THE WORD It's the story of Sandy and Danny, dance contests, graduation, drive-ins, and wishing the summer would never end; of fighting and, especially, making up. IT'S THE TIME... IT'S THE PLACE... IT'S THE MOTION It's the story of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, Greased Lightnin', gang rumbles, Thunder Road, Rydell High, and the Class of '59. IT'S E-LEC-TRI-FY-IN' Most... (more)

Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook

Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook

by Pearl Bailey

Nearly 100 recipes from "soul food" to Chinese food, including Pearl's favorites, as well as special recipes from her celebrated friends, fill the pages of this unique cookbook. Laced with practical advice on the care and feeding of friends and family, Pearl's Kitchen is truly an extraordinary experience.

Lenny Kravitz

by Mark Seliger

Musician Lenny Kravitz and photographer Mark Seliger, chief photographer for Rolling Stone, have been good friends for many years. With access only close friendship allows, Seliger here captures Kravitz on the road, with his family, performing, in posed settings, with friends, and in the outrageous fashions that have become his signature style. Because of his emotional proximity to his subject, Seliger is able to... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: play on

by Melvin Burgess