Groening, Matt, ed. Da Capo best music writing 2003 - Brief Article - Young Adult Review - Book Review

Kliatt, Jan, 2004 by Daniel Levinson

Da Capo Press. 297p. bibliog. c2003. 0-306-81236-3. $16.95. SA

There are so many "best" collections these days, it's probably tempting to just say no to all of them. Providing students with good writing on music, though, is a particularly useful "stretching" service. Music is a huge part of teenagers' lives, and they mostly follow the crowd without any discriminating distinctions (ditto for movies). So here's a subject they're already very interested in and a number may be ready to follow more sophisticated thinking on the subject. With this collection, there's the added boost of The Simpsons' creator, Matt Groening, as guest editor (he started his writing life as a rock critic). Material is drawn from a nice mix of publications (The Onion, Spin, The New Yorker) and writers include The Orchid Thief's Susan Orleans, novelist Jay McInerney and musician Elvis Costello. Genres include rock, pop, jazz and country. At just about 20 selections, there's variety without the number of pieces looking overwhelming. Worth a shot to see what the student response is. Daniel Levinson, Teacher, Thayer Acad., Braintree, MA

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.