Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar

A picture-book biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the woman who invented rock and roll—a warm, inspiring tale of a childhood filled with music, community, and a drive to succeed.

“Music is the heart of our story,” says Momma to young Rosetta, surprising her with her first guitar. Rosetta’s strums sound like ker-plunks. But with practice and determination, she makes music, fingers hopping “like corn in a kettle,” notes pouring over the church crowd “like summer rain washing the dust off a new day.”

In this stunning picture book, author and illustrator Charnelle Pinkney Barlow imagines the childhood of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose rural roots inspired the music we still hear today.

Young readers will see a child’s dream become reality through hard work and perseverance. And they’ll learn the overlooked story of a pioneering Black artist, whose contribution to music history is only now being discovered.