ALA Booklist (Tue May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

Elvis may have left the building, but interest in his life hasn't waned. This entry in the Up Close biography series records the familiar tracks in Elvis' life, giving slightly more attention to his assent to fame than the tragic descent into narcotics addiction and his extravagant lifestyle in the final years. The strained relationships with wife Priscilla and the controlling Colonel Parker are included, but daughter Lisa Marie is barely mentioned. Hampton provides plentiful examples to back up first girlfriend Dixie's assertion: "Elvis was just a nice boy who desperately wanted to please people." The language dealing with Elvis' exploits with girls is genteel as well he relationship became passionate very quickly, but both Elvis and Dixie agreed they would not go all the way until they were married." This didn't hold true for women he met on the road, but subtlety reigns there too, suiting this biography to a younger audience than most Presley picks. Source notes and bibliography are appended.

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

Hampton starts by describing his own memories of hearing Elvis for the first time. He then serves up a wealth of information on Presley's childhood, music, army stint, movie career, and love life (though, through no fault of his own, Hampton can't explain some of Elvis's bizarre obsessions). This thoughtful portrait of the rock-and-roll king is never oversimplified. Bib., ind.

Kirkus Reviews

A deeply engaging biography, written by someone who clearly loved Elvis and wants to share his story with a new generation. <p>A deeply engaging biography, written by someone who clearly loved Elvis and wants to share his story with a new generation. Hampton spins the tale out from the hardscrabble beginnings: a poor boy who once lived in a town called Shake Rag; the gift of a guitar and the power of gospel music; a boy who finds he can move people--especially girls--by singing that rock-'n'-roll. Hampton mentions everything: Elvis as library assistant; Sam Philips and the Grand Ole Opry; how Arthur Godfrey's show was a precursor of <i>American Idol</i>. He tells clearly how influential Elvis's music was, and how boring were the movies he made, and chronicles without sensationalism his decline into drug use, personal disaster and early death. Young people who want to know who the King was will find out, and their parents and grandparents will rediscover their sorrow that "Elvis has left the building." (source notes, bibliography, index) <i>(Biography. 9-14)</p>

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-From the foreword, readers learn that Hampton has an admiration for Elvis that reaches back to his childhood. His enthusiasm and passion for his subject are evident throughout this appealing biography, yet he remains objective about the performer's virtues as well as his tragic flaws. The striking cover photograph complements the lively and accessible text that delves not only into Elvis's life but also his impact on music and American culture. The writing is casual yet authoritative, and includes occasional black-and-white photographs. Readers who can't imagine a world without rock and roll will find this to be an excellent introduction to the man about whom John Lennon once said, "Before there was Elvis, there was nothing."-Marcia Kochel, Olson Middle School, Bloomington, MN Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Voice of Youth Advocates

These short biographies of twentieth-century lives are captivating in their down-to-earth readability and compassionate narrations. Levine's sympathetic accounting of Rachel Carson's story presents how the first of a family to graduate college became author of "one of the most influential books in the modern world." Carson's devotion to her family and work are explained as so all-consuming that she died a spinster, never having had time to marry. Ever conscious of the music of language, Carson rendered her meticulous scientific research accessible to the layperson through poetic prose that enchanted the average reader, providing a respite from the mounting tensions of the nuclear age. More than maintaining her lifelong sense of wonder for the natural world, Carson effectively shared it with the populace through understandable prose both serialized in magazines and published in books. Her crowning achievement, The Silent Spring, a book detailing the dangers of pesticide overuse, brought the shy scientist into the public sphere where she was hailed by the average reader and vilified by chemical corporations, inspiring the environmental movement. Levine's riveting account credits one unassuming woman with extraordinary accomplishments. Similarly Hampton paints Elvis Presley's life as one of extraordinary talent raised from small-town limitations to the height of stardom, ever focusing on the goodness of the man through his tumultuous life, even as his weakness and addiction destroyed the rock 'n' roll legend. Beginning with a personal vignette of his own rock 'n' roll conversion and employing some of youth's euphemisms-Hampton describes Elvis and his early love Dixie as "going together" and deciding to "not go all the way" before marriage-Hampton relates how the polite and truthful youth who "just wanted to please people" unwittingly transformed into a musical phenomenon and continued to become a drug-addicted has-been performing often without joy, and at the end, even