Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar: The Musical Story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll [Hardcover]

A picture book biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the woman who invented rock and roll.

Author and illustrator Charnelle Pinkney Barlow imagines the childhood of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose rural roots inspired and helped create the music we still hear today. In this warm, inspiring tale, young readers will glimpse a life filled with music, community, and a drive to succeed.

Music is the heart of our story, says Momma to young Rosetta, surprising her with her first guitar. Rosetta's strums sound like ker-plunks. But with practice and determination, she makes music, fingers hopping like corn in a kettle, notes pouring over the church crowd like summer rain washing the dust off a new day.

Children will see Rosetta's dream become reality through hard work and perseverance. And they'll learn the overlooked story of a pioneering Black artist, whose contribution to music history is only now being discovered.★  Pinkney Barlow smartly uses lively onomatopoeia and crisp, textured collage art to layer the origins of the subject’s sound onto every page. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ Perhaps most impressive is the sense of place achieved by both text and art: Readers will truly feel as though they’ve visited Cotton Plant and met many of its animated, expressive denizens. —BookPage, starred review

★ Black Caucus American Library Association Best of the Best List, 2023

★ A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, 2024

★ Norman A. Sugarman Children’s Biography Award Honor, 2024, Cleveland Public Library

★ A New York Public LibrlÓ$