Too many curse words! Not for elementary students!

When I read the description, I thought I could add this to my classroom shelf. Nope! Curse words and adult content.

I liked the way it was told and the graphics.

Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band tells the story of brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas, founding members of the rock band Redbone. This graphic novel traces their rise to fame, their hit song "Come and get your love" and the fall of the band, as well as giving readers some history lessons about AIM (American Indian Movement), the harassment that Native Americans faced in Minneapolis in the 1960's, and the Wounded Knee Incident of 1973. Lots of history, but the story jumps around a lot and I found that to be a bit confusing.

I enjoyed reading this collection of comics about the Native American band, Redbone. I had no idea that this happened and it is really terrible that they were blacklisted for speaking out against something that was so obviously wrong. I most likely will not be purchasing it for my middle school library, but I could see it doing well in a high school library.

This is a truly beautiful graphic novel depicting the real life hardships and passions in an often overlooked minority. A slow start quickly segued into a fascinating past with the most gorgeous artwork, fantastic, emotive colouring and amazing, fun layouts. If you enjoy music, history, politics or just graphic novels - please read this sensitive, vibrant depiction of Native American history.

Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band was not my traditional sort of book as I don't often read about rock bands, but I do enjoy graphic novels that depict true stories and history. Redbone was a great book that told both the story of the band Redbone and the story of the persecution and plight of Native Americans. The narrative seamlessly interwove the story of the band and the key moments in Native American protest. I have to admit I knew very little about the band, except for having heard their hit on the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack, and I also realised I know very little about Native American history.

Although I liked the art style, I did think that the graphic novel could have had slightly more structure as there were no storyboard section with boxes and outlines. The whole page was a free art style and there weren't always text bubbles, just free text. I think this would have provided slightly more guidance on which sections to read first as it wasn't always intuitive. However, the art style switches between the book worked really well to show the changes from the band's story to moments of history, and some of the history sections had more structure.

The one area that I really liked about the graphic novel was the snippets of history. I realise how little I know about the Native American plight. I knew about the occupation of Alcatraz 1969 - 1971, but I didn't know about the occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973. This followed the death of Wesley which resulted in police brutality and riots because there was no justice for Wesley. The result was Native Americans occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days. At the time they gained support from actor Marlon Brando who sent actress Sacheen Littlefeather to refuse his Oscar for The Godfather and speak out about the Lakota's plight. Jane Fonda, Johnny Cash and Angela Davis all supported their efforts. This was an event in American history I'd never learnt about or heard. In fact, the only reason I knew about the occupation of Alcatraz was because of my visit there a few summers ago. It made me realise how much Native American history is erased from the general history of America and how much I have to learn. So I thought this was cleverly done and I think important to the band's values as they became invested in the plight of their people and the protests such as Wounded Knee.

The story of the band itself was cleverly told (although I was probably less invested in this). The narrative followed Pat Vegas recounting to his children the various points of his life, the fame the band achieved, the success and the tours as well as the relationships within the band and the eventual breakdown of their success and group. It was interesting to see how Pat and Lolly Vegas the initial brothers and founding members had to change their names from Vasquez to Vegas to be more appealing to a white audience. The graphic novel really demonstrated the conflict of identity the brothers had until they finally decided to form a band with Peter DePoe and Tony Bellamy. They formed the band as a Native American rock band and it was that we see how they really became invested in retaining their cultural identities.

Overall, I really enjoyed the graphic novel. I learnt a lot about the band and the Native American plight and although I think the graphic novel structure could do with some tweaks, I did still really enjoy it.

I was provided an eArc through NetGalley in exchange for my review.

Redbone is a captivating lesson in American history. The limited colours immersed me in the story's time. I love books that offer me people and places to learn more about. You could spend hours reading about the people in this novel.

The story is efficiently told. With minimal words it tells more than a history book could about how Native Americans have been treated. I'd like it to tell more about the individual members of Redbone and what happened to them.

Redbone's depiction of racism and protests in the past is relevant to current events. It's a must for libraries.

This book is much more about the music industry than the struggle of indigenous people in the USA. It does tell a compelling story that can make readers of any age look more deeply at other books and sources. It causes them to examine their assumptions about popular culture and history.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and IDW Publishing for making this ARC available for me to review.

If I were viewing this book just based on the art, I'd probably give it a 4 or 4.5. It's not a style of art that I'm drawn to, but it feels to be matched very well with the story that is being told. Though, at times, it was confusing as to which dialogue box to read next.

The concept of the story: a daughter hearing her father reflect on the past is really a great framework for allowing the daughter to stand in as the person to ask questions the reader would also like answers to. However, for me, I had a hard time following sections that included information about people or events I was already familiar with. Though, the explanations felt clearer when talking about things not related to the group Redbone directly (like the occupation at Wounded Knee for example). I think this story has a lot of potential, but feel it could benefit from some changes if they want to reach audiences who are not already fans of, and familiar with, Redbone.

The story of a Native American rock group, flirting with major success but pulling back to become more active in the civil rights movement, should have made for a great story. But this graphic novel version isn't, for the reasons caused by several stumbling blocks. The biggest was a host of actual stumbles – the design, where images bleed into each other with no panel separation or guttering, added to the speech bubbles just thrown at the page as if it didn't matter we've got a century-old grammar of how they're supposed to be presented, meant on nearly every page I was tripping over things, and finding I was reading sentences in the wrong order. The text isn't all that great either, high on the exposition and the unrealistic dialogue that forces the story on to the page. It's also very name-droppy, too – they taught The Doors all they knew, a young Jimmy Hendrix admitted it was brave to be a Native American rocker, but at least whitey would always think them Mexican… In the end, this failed for me – presenting it the way they do, in a world without green as well, was a big turn-off. Which for such an important story is a whole host of wrong. One and a half stars.

This is an interesting book. It’s primary focus is on how the first Native American rock band was formed. Told through flashbacks and multiple story lines, we can see how this band came to be. Historical anecdotes describe the atrocities that were inflicted on the Native American children in order to erase their native culture. The images add to the jarring story telling with their bursts of color, twisting and sharp illustrations that trail all over the page. I’m not sure I enjoyed this book but it is definitely one to read and reflect on.

This was a very eye opening book for me. I didn't realize that I'd heard this band's music before! But I didn't put the two together until I looked the band up online. So for me, this was a pleasure to read. It was great reading all of the well-known musicians Redbone had worked with. The only thing I didn't care for was the sequence of events. For some reason I was a little confused while reading. I think it may be the layout of the illustrations. Despite that, I'd definitely recommend this book to any music lover out there! Redbone most certainly deserves their roses 🌹🌹🌹

I wanted to like this but each page was hard to follow the direction of the content, there were too many words, and the timeline jumped back and forth in such a manner that it made it frustrating. I would have liked to learn more and I think to do that less needs to be in this book because the pages are cluttered with words.

A great graphic novel about Native American rock band Redbone, that I sadly knew nothing about. I was familiar with a few of their great songs (namely "Come and Get Your Love" and "Witch Queen of New Orleans") but I had never connected them to a specific band. I don't know if I ever would've known the incredible history behind the band without this graphic novel, so this was really eye-opening especially to see it connected to the civil rights movement. 5/5 stars plus an extra one for the listening material I got during my reading experience as well.

Illustrated by Sonia Paoloni and Thibault Balahy

Delve into the formation of the first all American Indian Rock Band: Redbone, as told from Pat Vegas’ perspective. Before they were a full band, Lolly and Pat Vegas played clubs in LA and jammed with some of the greats - Jimmy Hendrix before he was Jimi, Sonny and Cher, and more. As they started to collect other talented musicians who were also passing as Hispanic Americans, rather than showing

I honestly picked this up because "Come and Get Your Love" resurfaced in popularity after its use in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 movie. I imagine this is how many of our students will know it, too. I hadn’t anticipated being pulled into this story, but I was because of the attention to the history surrounding the band and their formation. This book is half about the band and half about Native American rights as fought for from the 1800s to the 1970s. And, as history often has a way of doing, the events from the book tie in with the current struggles, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline, that our Native American communities are still fighting. It is also always nice to read a book and find connections close to the place where you're sitting. I had no idea that Pat and Lolly Vegas were born about 60 miles from where I currently live, nor did I know that they were raised for a better part of their lives in the Tower District of my current hometown, Fresno. it's a fun and startling realization to see part of a freeway you drive to work every day depicted within a comicbook.

The illustrations of this book are heavily outlined and stylized with some roughness. There are some great moments of coloring and shading that incorporate symbolism important to Native Americans.

This title would be most suitable to high school audiences. There are cigarettes and alcohol references throughout. There is one page of language - this book could be considered an R film because a sound engineers says the F word three times in after hearing their music - but that's the only cussing in the entire book.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

An interesting graphic biography of Redbone, a Native American rock band from the 60s and 70s. It is wonderful to have this as a document for a musical group I knew nothing about, fitting in the history of Redbone with the rise of AIM and activist movements that started at the time. The layout can sometimes be a little confusing and it's not always easy follow to the order for the dialogue, but I like that the art took some stylistic risks in the layout. Crank up some Redbone and dig into this book!

I didn't know anything about Redbone other than Come and Get Your Love. This was a fascinating and the art was amazing.

This graphic novel tells the story of Redbone, the band behind the hit song "Come and Get Your Love." I had no idea that Redbone was comprised entirely of Native American artists, led by brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas. In the 1960s and '70s, their identities were inherently political and their music was purposefully political, highlighting the injustice of native populations and supporting in the American Indian Movement (AIM) efforts of the time. Their insistence on proudly proclaiming their heritage eventually led to them being blacklisted from performance venues in the U.S.

While the story is captivating and important, the art style of this graphic novel wasn't to my personal taste. It's abstract in places, and not structured into panels like a traditional comic, which made it a bit difficult to follow along with, especially as the narrative jumps back and forth in time. I struggled to read the text in the correct order on multiple pages.

Redbone is definitely worth a read if you're interested in this amazing true story. It inspired me to some of the band's other works besides "Come and Get Your Love," including "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee," "Maggie," "Wovoka," and "The Witch Queen of New Orleans."

Redbone: The True Story of a Native American Rock Band, is a nonfiction graphic novel that tells the story of the origin and rise to popularity of Redbone, the first Native American band to have a #1 rock single internationally. While I had no familiarity with Redbone’s music before reading the book, I found the story engaging and compelling as it alternated between the conversations framing the band’s story, and the artwork successful in evoking the 1960s and 1970s time period for the flashbacks to Redbone’s early days and rise to prominence within the context of Native American civil rights movements.

My only critique of the book is that, at times, the framing device within which the flashback to the story of Redbone occurs has some clunkily expository dialogue. Other than that relatively minor issue, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a preview copy of this book.

A graphic biography of an all-Native American rock band in the 1960s. Told in a spare, primary-colored style. Will appeal to teens and adults, as well as anyone interested in rock music, mid-20th century American history, or civil rights.

diverse graphic nonfiction (music history/social history - Native American rock band from 1960s)
Beautiful watercolor and ink artwork recounts the life stories (told in collaboration with the Vegas family) and history behind the rock band, as well as the history of discrimination against Native Americans.
This was a slower read that took its time to unfold, eventually delving into the history of Indian schools (pp 29-34) and Native American protest (pp 44- ). I didn't find the history of the band to be that interesting aside from their choice to embrace their native roots, but the social and political history is definitely worth a read.