This Boy: The Early Lives of John Lennon & Paul McCartney

Documenting the subjects’ first meeting and leading up to their meteoric rise to fame, Cooper (A Woman in the House) highlights the stark personality differences that cultivated the “creative alchemy” between John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (b. 1942) in this cerebral origin story. Born to music-loving parents with “a sharp disdain for authority” and raised by a strict aunt, Lennon used his considerable charisma, as well as his guitar- and harmonica-playing prowess, to form skiffle band the Quarry Men. Polite, studious McCartney, meanwhile, also raised by music lovers, had a quiet and affectionate upbringing; guitar playing became his primary emotional outlet following his mother’s sudden death in 1956. In prose that penetrates the Beatles’ larger-than-life aura, Cooper emphasizes the duo’s ordinary childhood experiences. Though the author details McCartney’s joining of the Quarry Men in 1957 and his disciplined personality as a balancing influence to Lennon’s “star power,” frank text also dutifully renders both figures’ similarities, including their controlling behavior with romantic partners. Archival photographs, an author’s note, and concluding remarks on the Beatles’ legacy round out the narrative, while thorough endnotes and a bibliography reflect Cooper’s detail-oriented approach. Ages 10–14. (Aug.)