Elvis Presley

K-Gr 3–This title in the “Little People, Big Dreams” series offers an introduction to Elvis Presley, attempting to address questions of race in the history of rock and roll. The book opens with Presley’s modest upbringing in rural Mississippi and continues on to his discovery of a love of music as an adolescent in Memphis, building to his music and film careers. Albero’s illustrations follow the series format: they are simple and clean with mostly full-color spreads. Sanchez-Vegara emphasizes Presley’s appreciation for both the country music of his (white) childhood and the blues music of his (Black) neighbors, and how he melded the two. However, despite a general statement that “at that time, his country had unfair rules that separated people by the color of their skin,” racial terms are never made explicit, and a blatant “color-blind” theme pervades the book—“for Elvis, music had no color.” This simplified approach to racism for a young audiences greatly waters down the topic.