Who Doesn’t Want to Be in a Band?!
There are some things that simply scream childhood: getting crazy-dizzy in a tire swing, throwing rocks in a creek, selling lemonade on a hot summer day…and forming a band with your siblings.
Most of the time, kids don’t get much farther than parading around the house with real or makeshift drums, flutes, symbols, and any other noisy, sure-to-drive-mom-crazy thing.
But for a talented and lucky few, their band actually goes somewhere—further than the family’s sofa. Suzzy Roche is one example of a child whose makeshift band went from performing for her parents to performing for thousands of fans. She and her two sisters formed the Roches, a folk-indie rock band that sang and performed together for more than thirty years.
Now, with her singing career behind her, Suzzy Roche has written a nostalgic children’s book about her experience forming and maintaining a successful band with her sisters.
It is a really sweet, really good book. I love the story, and I really like the illustrations (good job, Giselle Potter) of the girls plucking away on their guitars, sometimes on their own, and sometimes as a little trio of long hair, eager smiles, and seemingly endless patience for each other.
Roche starts at the beginning of her story; she talks to the reader in a friendly, familiar way: “Right away, you might discover that making music is harder than you thought. Your fingers might get sore as you practice the chords.”
But practice she does, and fun she has, and their hard work pays off. Throughout the book, Roche emphasizes three things: First, you’ve got to practice to be good and to stay good; second, you’re going to have disagreements with your partners, but you can work through almost anything; third, there will be tough times, but overall you’re fortunate, so don’t forget to thank your lucky stars.
These are such good lessons for any kids, regardless of their musical talent!
She and her sisters discover early what I think is the best—having fun seriously. They were doing serious, real stuff—writing songs! Making music! Performing! With their sisters!
But they were having a lot of fun doing all those things. Seems to me a pretty cool life, one that, as a parent, I can’t help but think how fun it must have been for those three sisters’ parents to watch their daughters work and travel and grow together for decades after they first performed on the family’s sofa.
This is a cool book about a cool woman who still has a pretty cool life. It makes me want to be a little more patient about the next pot-clanging jam session that occurs in my kitchen with my little trio.
Who knows—they might form a band one day and perform for people other than their parents…!
Want To Be In A Band?
By Suzzy Roche and Giselle Potter
Schwartz & Wade books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids
Price: available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books a Million! for approximately$17
| Easy to Read | 4 |
| Quality of Illustrations |
4 |
| Appealed to Both Boys and Girls | 4 |
| Kept My Child(ren)’s interest | 4 |
| I Would Purchase This For My Family | yes |
| I would Purchase This As A Gift | yes |
| Overall Rating |
4 |
All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being highest.
Meet the Reviewer!
Kate Schwarz is a full-time mom
and wife living in Great Falls, VA.
In addition to reading to her three
small hildren, Kate runs marathons,
Crossfits, and blogs about raising
kids with books at
www.katesbookery.blogspot.com.
