Shake Rag from the Life of Elvis Presley by Amy Littelesugar (1998) is an example of why I read picture books. I hadn’t known about Elvis Presley’s childhood. His family lived on the poor side of town, and Elvis was called white trash by school kids. Shake Rag was a place, a place mostly inhabited by Blacks. It’s where Elvis heard the blues sung by his neighbors. It’s where he observed and then joined in the singing with the traveling Sanctified Church. Eventually, his family moved to Memphis, and, in 1954, nineteen-year-old Elvis auditioned for Sun Records. When he sang songs he learned in Shake Rag, history was made. Paintings by Floyd Cooper are both realism and dreamlike, a real bonus.
