Nonfiction Review 3- The Beatles were Fab (and they were Funny)-Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer

1.  BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krull, Kathleen and Paul Brewer.  2013. The Beatles were Fab (and They were Funny)Ill.  Stacy Innerst..Boston : Harcourt Children's Books.
Age Range: 6-9 Lexile: 860

2. Summary

 Once upon a time, in Liverpool, England, there were four musicans: John Lennon, Paul McCarthney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They loved to sing, make music, and laugh. Join Kathleen Krull and Paul Brewer, along with illustator Stacy Innerst, on the magic and the humor of the Beatles.

3. My Review

This is a must read for any Beatles fan ( plus the cover is bright and sunny.) Krull and her husband do a great job of showing the magic and mystery of the Beatles, with lots of humor along the way. 

Fab tells the story of the Beatles in chronological order, from the naming of the band ( darn, Long John Silver and the Pieces of Eight wouldn't have been so bad) to the rise of Beatlemania in the US, ending with their final concert in Candlestick Park. 

John Lennon and his bandmates try to think of band names, laughing all the way to..the Beatles.

 
Throughout the band's rise to "the toppermost of the poppermost" , we learn that there were plenty of laughs along the way. For example, we learn that when the band was writing " She Loves You", Paul's father wanted them to say a proper "yes" instead of "yeah, yeah, yeah", but Paul laughed at the idea and responded "no, no, no".(And the song became the first Beatles record to sell a million copies.) Another time, the group had to deal with flying jellybeans. The group loved the English candy known as jellybabies, but since they were unable to buy in the US, fans had bought jellybeans and threw them at concerts as a way to show their love for the band. (But don't worry, John's solution was to eat them.). We also get lots of quirky quotes from the lads ( my favorite is their response to how they feel about their fans. George says they are flattered, John responds with "and flattened."


The acrylic and ink illustrations by Innerst add and expand on the humor and wonder of the band's rise to fame. He does a great job in capturing the images of the band mates, from cute Paul to Ringo and his big nose. We even get some familiar images ( like Abbey Road). A timeline and book and website resources are featured at the end.

 In the end,  a really good book that proves all you need is love... and laughs.

4. Classroom Connections

•  Ask children if they have ever heard of the Beatles. Play some of their music or show concert or film clips, like Yellow Submarine.
• Use the book as part of a unit on the 1960s. Explore historical events, clothing, other musical groups, etc.
• Look at other pop culture and entertainment from Great Britain. Examples- Harry Potter, James Bond, Teletubbies.

5.  Website to Check out

The Beatles- Official website of the Beatles, featuring everything from the history of the group to images and latest Beatles projects.

The Beatles for Kids-Part of the Canadian webpage Bunch, lists cool ways for parents to introduce their children to the Beatles.

Beatles Word Play-  Fun Trivia page that looks at the word play of the Beatles.

The Beatles to the Wanted- Hollywood Reporter photo gallery that looks at the history of boy bands. ( See if you remember any of them).

6. Books to Check out (plus keywords)

• Edgers, George. Who were the Beatles?  New York : Grosset & Dunlap, c2006
• Martin, Marvin. The Beatles: The Music was Never the Same.  New York : Franklin Watts, c1996. 
• Partridge,  Elisabeth. John Lennon: All I want is the Truth: a photographic biography. New York, N.Y. : Viking, 2005.
• Roberts, Jeremy. The Beatles.  Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications, c2002. 

Looking for more books? Here are some keywords to try on your library catalog-
Beatles-Juvenile literature
Rock musicians-England-Biography-Juvenile literature.
 Lennon , John(1940-1980)-Juvenile literature.
 McCartney, Paul-Juvenile literature




7. An Added Treat at the end

Since we are talking about the Beatles, I felt like adding a little musical treat to end this review. Here is one of the favorite songs, " Blackbird" , as featured in the Cirque du Soleil movie, Worlds Away. Enjoy!