Gus & Me

Starred review from September 8, 2014
Yes, it's a celebrity bookâa very good one. Writing in an intimate, easygoing voice that blends the boyish with the avuncular, rock legend Richards pays tribute to his grandfather and role model, Theodore Augustus Dupree, a veteran musician who lived in a house "filled with instruments and cake." Gus is a mite footlooseâhe evades chores and once took young Keith on a ramble that ended so far from home that they had to spend the night under a tree. But he also introduces his grandson to the magic of a musical instrument workshop ("Men tested the guitar strings dinka-plink dinka plink.... And right then, right there, I fell in love with instruments"), bestows his prize guitar on Keith, and sets a high bar for musicianship (hearing Keith playing the complex instrumental "Malagueña," Gus remarks, "I think you're getting the hang of it"). Theodora Richards, Keith's daughter of Richards, contributes fluid, inked sketches and other freestyle graphic elements that exude love and spontaneity. The accompanying CD proves Richards is as adept at telling bedtime stories as he is performing on stage. Ages 3â6.

Author and narrator Keith Richards, of the Rolling Stones, wins the listener over easily with his working-class English accent and unmistakable fondness for his topics--his first guitar and his beloved grandfather, Gus. The musically talented Gus familiarized the young Richards with music and gave him his first guitar, suggesting the classical "Malague–a" as the pinnacle of guitar mastery. Richards intersperses bits of "Malague–a" in appropriate spots throughout the seven-minute story. And during a remembered visit to a London music shop, musician Steve Jordan, known for his collaborations with Richards, plays drums. Richards collaborated with other authors, but this is obviously HIS story, imbued with familiarity, warmth, and sincerity. We even get to hear him chuckle. L.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Starred review from September 15, 2014
What makes music the heart and center of a life? In this case, it is a grandfather who lives in a house full of "instruments and cake." When Keith visits his granddad Gus, they walk everywhere, and Gus hums tunes and symphonies as they wander through towns and villages-even all the way to London. In the workshop of a music store there, Keith is taken by the guitars. When he is tall enough, Gus promises, Keith can have the guitar that sits on top of the piano in his house. When that moment comes, Gus teaches Keith "Malaguena," because then he "can play anything." This is all told so naturally and with such sweet verve that readers may not notice that this is the legendary guitarist of the Rolling Stones. The vibrant and evocative pictures are done by Richards' daughter, named for her great-grandfather. Over swathes of rich color she lays pen-and-ink drawings of figures and instruments, architectural details, free-floating musical notes-and cakes and tea things-that brilliantly carry the power of love and music into visual imagery. A CD of the author reading the story and playing a bit of "Malaguena" is included, and it is pretty wonderful, too. A beautiful example of artistic bookmaking, a story of family love and lore, and the magic of music personified in a way that's utterly accessible to children-and their dazzled parents. (biographical note, photographs) (Picture book. 4-10)

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September 1, 2014

K-Gr 2-Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has penned a poignant picture book depicting his close relationship with his grandfather Gus. The author is keenly aware that his musical accomplishments will mean little to the book's target audience and focuses entirely on his childhood, rather than on his later career. Back matter gives readers some basics on his life, including the charmingly humble statement "Keith later began playing in a band with a group of friends, including Mick Jagger. They called themselves the Rolling Stones." He relates his experiences spending time with Gus, who took the boy on walks and gave him his first guitar, which started a lifelong passion for music. There's little of the hilariously snarky Keith that adult readers will know from his autobiography, Life (Little, Brown, 2011); written in free verse, the text is tender, though never cloying, and both the author's love for music and his grandfather come through. Loose black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations, done by Keith's daughter, affectionately depict the title characters, as well as the various objects in their orbit (musical instruments, Big Ben, tea kettles, a double-decker bus), while backgrounds provide rich washes of purples, blues, yellows, and green, emphasizing the beauty and the sense of magic of the music. A gentle story celebrating the importance of family.-Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
Grades K-3 Having already conquered the best-seller charts with his memoir, Life (2010)the music charts he conquered eons agoRolling Stones axeman Richards pairs with daughter Theodora for a recollection of the moment he fell in love with instruments. This is a quiet tale that begins with Mr. Richards' grandfather Gus, an all-around musical sort who took young Keith on many a long, wandering walk around London. It was a chance stop at an instrument shop that proved fateful. There, in the book's most unique and effective scene, Keith observes the factory: My eyes followed a line of guitars / that snaked around the room on a conveyor belt. / And in the middle of everything, / big, bubbling buckets of glue went / blub blub blub. Like Gus, this wistful tale wanders, but the closing biographical note (and parents' own voiced enthusiasms about the author) should help drive home the story's central theme: the potential big impact of life's chance encounters. With its fine-lined doodles atop large washes, Ms. Richards' pastel illustrations have a whimsical, sophisticated quality that gives the book an appropriately European feel. This rocks, though the effect is more like being rocked in a grandparent's arms. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Richards has already proved he can move books, and the sheer curiosity of seeing what the hard-living rocker wishes to impart to young ones should drive sales.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)