ELVIS: A Graphic Novel

American Graphic

by Terry Collins, Michele Melcher

Elvis Presley was the King of Rock n Roll. But his career was not all glitter and glory. The hip-shaking stardom of the 1950s sank into an embarrassing string of bad movies in the 1960s. Could Elvis kick-start his career and reconnect with his audience? Join him on his 68 Comeback Special and witness the King rise again.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Biography, Nonfiction, Comics, History, Music

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I write. I teach. I teach writing. I write about teaching. I read about writing and write about reading and teach about both when not dealing with the paperwork being a high school educator demands in our current political clime. I'm National Board Certified in my discipline (English).

I've won awards, published constantly since 1989, and just wrapped up a two-year tenure as the editor and designer of Pine Whispers (the newsletter for the North Carolina Poetry Society).

I make time for reflection, which comes in handy with all of the hats I wear. I also buy, sell and collect pop culture items ... from books and comics, to lunch boxes and action figures.

And if you've read this far, please accept my humble thanks.

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

flashbacks will be hard for young readers who are unfamiliar with the subject's life

[wildct2003 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent kid-level intro to the performer. Focus starts with 1968 comeback, spreads out from there.

[Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read a graphic novel for a book challenge and I chose this book. It was short and sweet. A basic retelling of the highlights of Elvis' life.

[Allie Mueller]

Type of book: Novel
Literary genre: Graphic novel
Awards the book has received: None

Summary: This graphic novel tells the story of Elvis' return to music after a ten year hiatus. It begins with the star talking to a producer about doing a TV special. Elvis flashes back to the movies he made after he became famous, and reflects on his time singing gospel music. He and the producer choose a song for Elvis to sing live, but when the time comes, he doesn't feel up to it. Elvis' producer reminds him of how his fame began, which helps Elvis gain the courage to perform. This performance led to the height of The King's popularity in the 1970s.

Critique of the book: This graphic novel could be very confusing to a young student. There are various flashbacks and jumbled text bubbles. The vocabulary and content are low-level, leading one to believe that it is an easy read, but the format of the book could make it very difficult to read for some students.

Prompts or questions:
- Why does the producer tell Elvis that no one has looked at him twice? What is he trying to say? (pg 5)
-Why was Elvis unsure about performing? How do you think he felt? (pg 11)
-What does Elvis mean when he says "My life has been like a dream with a V8 engine"? How could you describe your life using a simile? (pg 20)
Craft elements of the book that could be addressed in a reading or writing lesson
This book could be used to teach student about writing in different formats. Biographies can be written in essay form, as graphic novels, or even expressed through pictures. Students can have the opportunity to see an interesting interpretation of a biography.

[Aaron Milnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Graphic Novel Elvis by Terry Collins this graphic novel tells the story in a comic book hero fashion of Elvis trying to get back to the top.
Target Audience: Intermediate
Text to self: I have mentioned before I am a comic book movie fan, so this style of story telling catches my attention. The main character Elvis is my grandmothers absolute favorite performer. So when I was browsing through the graphic novels and saw this I had to get it. On a personal note Elvis and I have a name in common, Aaron, is his middle name. I just needed to mention that.
Text to text: This was hard to find, there are many books about Elvis Presley and his life, however I wanted to find something that was meant for elementary readers. I found Elvis Presley for kids written by Sam Rogers. It describes Elvis life in a very similar way as the graphic novel. It describes a larger portion of his life but both books have stories of the life he lived.
Text to World: Elvis Presley is one of the biggest pop icons ever, but he has been dead for a very long time. If a student hears about him and wants to learn more, depending on their reading level you could suggest either book.

[Juliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up for my 8 y.o. at the library. She wasn't interested in learning about Elvis so I read it on my own. Nice little intro about Elvis for kids. I was struck by the number of cultural references would be foreign to my child.

BTW my mom and aunt took my grandmother to see a very young Elvis in concert in New Orleans. She was shocked by the concert but also seemed to have a good humor about it. She later my ran into him in a department store and said, "You... You're...!" He asked her to not blow his cover. I love the thought of Granny intersecting with the King of Rock n Roll!

[Heather Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I choose to read this book, I thought it was an adult graphic novel. It is not!! For a children's graphic novel it is very good and still contains interesting facts - some that I didn't even know.

However, compared to Johnny Cash and Jeffrey Dahmer this would be a one-star for both story and illustrations. Good intro to Elvis for the young though

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Elvis and his life. This book I think could teach us a few lessons but the one that speaks to me that applies to myself and the world is chasing your dreams. Everyone in the world should be chasing what they are passionate about. Elvis did this and he achieved so much. Everyone should be able to have a chance and chase what they want to do in their life.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book actually gave me tingles down my spine in the way it was told. It showed how he came to fame by focusing on one event in the present. Clearly a well-written and illustrated book. Has a lot of good info, too.

[Gary Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although a graphic novel of Elvis Presley's life is a good idea, this one is mostly just sloppy--sloppy art, sloppy story-telling, sloppy writing.

[Sonic · Rating 1 out of 5]

A graphic novel about Elvis? What's not to love?

All of it.

Not only is this poorly written, ... when your 1978 Elvis looks like your 1956 Elvis, well, ... you got problems.

[Stefani🍁 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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