Yoko Ono

December 15, 2012
On the verge of her 80th birthday (Feb. 18, 2013), Ono steps out of her iconic late husband's shadow for a sympathetic profile. The authors present her as a groundbreaking creative artist whose work has been misunderstood, not to say derided, for decades and who was unjustly vilified as the woman who broke up the Beatles. They describe a comfortable upbringing in Japan and the United States, childhood experiences in World War II and artistic development as part of New York's avant-garde scene in the 1950s and early '60s. The book goes on to chronicle her relationships with various husbands, including "soul mate" John Lennon, and her two children, life as a peace-activist celebrity in the '70s, and (in much less detail) her activities, honors and exhibitions after Lennon's death. The account is occasionally trite ("Yoko and John were stressed to the max") or platitudinous, and it's unlikely to persuade younger (or any) readers to appreciate Yoko's creations--which run to works like an 80-minute film of naked rumps walking by and sets of chess pieces that are all the same color--as great art. Nevertheless, it does impart a good sense of conceptual and performance art's purposes and expressions along with a detailed portrait of a complex woman who for several reasons has a significant place in our cultural history. Even rabid fans of Lennon or the 1960s will find new information and angles in this searching study. (photos, timeline to 2009, resource lists) (Biography. 12-15)

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March 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-This beautifully produced, comprehensive, and highly sympathetic biography of the artist covers her entire life, reporting her influences and her accomplishments, and bringing her out from behind the shadow of her famous husband. The broad facts are freely available around the Web, but here they've been organized roughly chronologically and presented in context with descriptions of works that presaged movements in music as well as visual and performance art. Divided into sections representing different life stages, the detailed narrative includes helpful historical background for modern teens and is written in a lively, often colloquial style. Endpapers with the words "Imagine Peace" in the 24 languages in which they are carved on the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland will remind readers of two major themes of Ono's life. The book is liberally illustrated with photographs, but it will take a stretch of readers' own imaginations to understand just how ground- and taboo-breaking her art and life have been. The back matter includes a bibliography that reflects the authors' extensive research, which included an interview with the subject. For those who enjoyed Elizabeth Partridge's John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth (Viking, 2005), this will be a must-read.-Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2013
Grades 9-12 Though Yoko Ono was born into a life of wealth and privilege, she did not have an easy childhood. Her emotionally distant parents uprooted her many times to change schools or move from Japan to America and back to Japan, where she endured hunger and fear during World War II. Intelligent, creative, and strong willed, she married against her parents' wishes and lived in poverty in New York City for many years, developing her own idiosyncratic, conceptual form of writing, music, visual art, and performance pieces. While this biography documents Ono's life broadly, the writing is uneven in quality. The sections on her childhood and her third marriage, to John Lennon, are the most interesting. In discussing Ono's work and its reception by critics and the public, the authors often seem to take on the role of apologists rather than journalists or historians. On the plus side, this is handsomely designed and generously illustrated; it is also well researched and filled with intriguing details. There's not a lot for young people about Ono. They will find this a good starting place.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)