When Paul Met Artie

The Story of Simon & Garfunkel

Candlewick Press

(pub 3.20.2018)
 48 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor:  G. Neri
    

and illustrator: David Litchfield

C haracters: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "Long before they became one of the most beloved and successful duos of all time, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were just two kids growing up in Queens New York - best friends who met in a sixth-grade production of Alice in Wonderful and bonded over girls, baseball, and rock 'n' roll.  As teens, they practiced singing into a tape recorder, building harmonies that blended their voices until they sounded just right. They wrote songs together, pursued big-time music producers, and dreamed of becoming stars, never imagining how far their music would take them."

T antalizing taste:        

"Paul teaches himself how to play

'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'-

only like Elvis would:

hair slicked back, collar up, 

hips shaking.

The other thing shaking

is his dad's head when he realizes

all Paul cares about

is rock 'n' roll.

When Paul asks him

how to play a new radio hit

called 'Earth Angel,'

his dad shows him

the five basic chords

in every rock 'n' roll song.

For Paul, it's like the floodgates

open." 

 

and something more: The Bibliography shows the depth of G. Neri's research for this poetic book: "This story was compiled from a variety of sources: books, magazines, newspapers, radio, video, and archival material. As much as possible, I tried to use Mr. Simon and Mr. Garfunkel's primary sources of information, collecting from more than 250 interviews and articles from the last sixty years as found on www.artgarfunkel.com, www.paul-simon.info, and in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame archives, as well as many other online video and audio sources. Dialogue comes mostly from direct recollections from the duo..."