SONG FOR JIMI: THE STORY OF GUITAR LEGEND JIMI HENDRIX
CHARLES R. SMITH JR., illustrated by EDEL RODRIGUEZ
� 2021, Neal Porter Books, Holiday House
$22.99
56 pages

It was the fall of 1942, and Johnny Allen Hendrix had just made his debut. Johnny was his name at first, anyway, until his daddy changed it to James when the boy was three years old. By then, "Jimmy" was used to the way things were at home: his parents drank too much and fought even more. Jimmy kept to himself and rarely spoke.

When his mother finally had enough of it, she left, and that was even worse.

"Jimmy lived the blues," so he taught himself to strum an old broom like it was a real "git-tar." Eventually, he found a "worn-out, beat-up" ukulele and though he was "born lefty," he learned to play it, left-handed and right-handed.

Finally, at age 16, Jimmy got his first real guitar, and it made him very happy! Still, it wasn't enough: he wasn't very good in school, and a teacher told him to "give up on his dream" and buckle down.

He didn't listen; instead, he worked and practiced and worked harder, until local bands began to hire him and everybody knew his name.

They knew his sound, too. Jimmy's guitar was loud, and it screamed with a sound like none other, a sound when he went into the army. He made his guitar speak "like a bird learning to tweet."

And one day, after he'd changed his name again, Jimi Hendrix reached his dream: he was invited to play in a place called Monterey, where he "showed the world how to kiss the sky."

Here's a bit of advice: before you read aloud Song for Jimi, look it over first.

The story jangles with a kind of jerky beat that feels like a loose-limbed dude walking down a summer sidewalk. It's a poem, but not quite; a song, but not entirely; a biography, but more. And it's longer than your usual picture book, word-wise. These are all things that adults will enjoy because author Charles R. Smith Jr. tells a good story and artist Edel Rodriguez adds literal color to the tale.

But will kids like it?

Meh. The length is one issue; the relevance is another, since most picture-book audiences (in this case, 7-to-12-year-olds) are likely too young for Jimi Hendrix. In the end, any enjoyment may depend not on the tale itself, but how it's read aloud.

Give it a read once before you share it with your child. Done properly, Song for Jimi may make your child sing.