All Shook Up: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley

Rating:
Summary: Certain to appeal beyond the young adult age range
Review: Barry Denenberg's All Shook Up is certain to appeal beyond the young adult age range it's intended for: this history of Elvis' life and death is lively, with black and white photos supplementing text appropriate for grades 6 and older. Any with a prior affection for Presley will find this a fine, approachable biography of his life.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing at best
Review: The only parts worth reading are the prologue entitled 'Marsha Cup' and the Introduction. The author claims to have researched his subject, Elvis Presley, however after the introduction the book is full of inaccurate information that is believed to be true because it has been printed before. The author's focus is on Elvis' dark and negative side. Elvis is portrayed in his Sun years as a pill popping mama's boy who then sells out his craft (Rock n Roll) to become Colonol Tom Parker's puppet. One sentence is dedicated to Elvis' charitable contributions, and little is said about how many gold and platinum records Elvis had. When Elvis' success in record sales is mentioned it is tainted with accusations of greed.

Reading this book reminds me of the Song Elvis sang in the 70's called "The Pieces of My Life", which I shall paraphrase, 'I read through the bad parts, I read through the sad parts, but I guess the author threw the best parts away.' Reading this book left me with feelings of disappointment and depression. I would not recommend it to anyone let alone young readers.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing at best
Review: The only parts worth reading are the prologue entitled 'Marsha Cup' and the Introduction. The author claims to have researched his subject, Elvis Presley, however after the introduction the book is full of inaccurate information that is believed to be true because it has been printed before. The author's focus is on Elvis' dark and negative side. Elvis is portrayed in his Sun years as a pill popping mama's boy who then sells out his craft (Rock n Roll) to become Colonol Tom Parker's puppet. One sentence is dedicated to Elvis' charitable contributions, and little is said about how many gold and platinum records Elvis had. When Elvis' success in record sales is mentioned it is tainted with accusations of greed.

Reading this book reminds me of the Song Elvis sang in the 70's called "The Pieces of My Life", which I shall paraphrase, 'I read through the bad parts, I read through the sad parts, but I guess the author threw the best parts away.' Reading this book left me with feelings of disappointment and depression. I would not recommend it to anyone let alone young readers.

Rating:
Summary: ALL SHOOK UP: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley
Review: To begin with, this is NOT a book for Juveniles. The Author merely repeats the same old distortions and outright lies that have been published over and over again. Isn't it about time that Elvis Presley was treated with some dignity? He was NOT a monster, but a basically fine and decent man. It's about time that His Daughter and other Loved ones were given some Peace from such garbage as is contained in this and other books of the same type. I am most disappointed with Scholastic Press for being a party to the Printing and distribution of this book.