Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People

First, I must openly admit that I checked this book out by mistake, thinking it was Elizabeth Partridge's award winning Woody Guthrie biography "This Land Is Your Land." About halfway through the book, after I'd already decided I didn't love it, I realized my mistake, but still kept reading. As an avid fan of folk music, I've always been fascinated by Woody Guthrie and the generation of songwriters he inspired. The book's title "Poet of The People," is absolutely correct, and this biography provides a decent overview of the songwriter's life and connection to the people he wrote about (primarily Great Depression and Dust Bowl sufferers).

As far as accuracy is concerned, there is an informative historical timeline in the back of the show more book, but no bibliography. Additionally, the author herself appears to be more rooted in the art/illustration world. I didn't notice any glaring factual mistakes; however, the book certainly read more like a story than a definitive biography.

Layout-wise, I thought the book was a bit hard to read. This could be a matter of personal preference, but I found the pages to be a bit overwhelming. In addition to the large illustrations, there was a combination of both printed and hand illustrated text. While I appreciate the concept, the mixture of type treatments was a bit jarring.

With all of that in mind, I would not say this is a bad book -- I just think there may be better Woody Guthrie books available. I think I will seek out the Partridge book for the purpose of comparison. One thing that this book did prompt me to do was to go listen to some Woody Guthrie songs. I'm not sure I'd ever paid attention to all seven verses of "This Land Is Your Land," but there certainly are a few that my first grade teacher omitted during class sing alongs.

Ex.
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief office I saw my people
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering
If this land was made for you and me? show less

Bonnie Christensen's biography, Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People, tells a story of a man who used music to create change in our country. Guthrie explains, "I made up songs telling what I thought was wrong and how to make it right. Songs that said what everybody in the country was thinking."
Woody Guthrie knew what it was like to face difficult times. After experiencing the death of his sister and his mother, Guthrie went out on the road. Participating in the great migration, Guthrie listened to the migrants' sad stories. These stories inspired the music that he wrote. In hope of creating change, Woody sang his dust bowl ballads on the radio. People appreciated that Guthrie acknowledged their troubles. His songs grew in popularity and show more were eventually heard all over. He began to perform anywhere that people would listen, ensuring that his message could be heard. In addition to writing over 1000 songs, Guthrie wrote essays, newspaper articles, and two books, celebrating America and inspiring the people.

In addition to the biography, Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People includes a time-line of the important events in Woody Guthrie's life. Christensen includes all seven verses of "This Land is Your Land," one of Woody Guthrie's most famous songs.This book is beautifully illustrated by Christensen. The painted images, highlighting important events in Guthrie's life and introducing the reader to the era in which he lived, pair nicely with the lyrics from "This Land is Your Land."

Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People is a book that could be used in grades 4 through 12. Guthrie's story has the potential to encourage youth to think about their own talents, reflecting on how they might use these talents as an instrument of change. In addition, this book could also be paired with literature that discusses the era in which Woody Guthrie lived or that which explores similar circumstances and themes, such as The Grapes of Wrath or The Circuit. show less

Too simplistic. No mention of controversies. There is back matter, and beautiful art, though. I recommend his songs (and his son Arlo's songs too) as an important supplement (the printed out lyrics in the book don't capture the effect). Does include all seven verses of This Land is Our Land.

This book describes the life of Woody Guthrie without going into deep details as to why he needed to voice the issues and struggles of different groups of Americans. The story is light-hearted and could be used as a general read aloud for younger students or could be used as a mentor text to how lyrics are written. For use with older students, this book could be the starting point to discuss things such as migrant issues in the United States. Students could use this text along with other mentor texts (various Woody Guthrie songs) and analyze how his songs helped describe specific groups and could research his efforts to help. The grade level for the text complexity is 4.5 although the grander ideas (in my opinion) are much more complex show more and mature than 4th grade. show less

"Woody Guthrie, Poet of the People" is a biography of Woody Guthrie, the American folk singer. It included many historical events along the way that could be expanded upon further. It discusses migrant workers, Okies, the Dust Bowl, WWII, and the Great Depression. The book shows the way these events effected his songs. I think this would be of great use in an upper elementary/middle school social studies lesson to introduce certain time periods. I also think it would be of great use introducing folk music in a music/art appreciation class. I enjoyed reading it to see how his music was truly effected by his life.

This book tells the story of folk musician Woody Guthrie, the writer of the famous song "This Land is Your Land." Tells about his childhood moving around and making ends meet during the Great Depression, then his work with unions and veterans, then the environment, and finally for his own children and others. He wrote songs to advocate for justice and respect for all. He died from the same disease that took his mother at a fairly young age but his songs live on.

This book is a bibliography of Woody Guthrie. It tells about his life growing up, of the hardships that he faced, and how this all came together to make him into the man he became. It tells about his travels and the many songs, such as "this land is your land" that he wrote. He helped the working man and told them that there was only one way to survive and that was by joining a union. Woody died in 1967 of Huntington's disease, the same disease that took his mother.

I thought this was a very well illustrated book and was very informative also. I love the fact that it had the song "this land is your land" worked into the illustrations. It also had all the verses of the song at the back of the book and by reading the book, it gave you and show more idea of what the song is really about.

This book could be used in the classroom to do reports over important people in Oklahoma history. It would also be good to use in a unit over the dust bowl or work in something about the music written by Woody. show less