Janis Joplin: Rise up singing

Angel, A. (2010.) Janis Joplin: Rise up singing. NY: Amulet. Janis Joplin was raised in Port Arthur, Texas. From a very young age, she desired adventure in her life. She always knew that she didn’t want to stay in Port Arthur, Texas because there was more out there. This biography reveals the inside of Janis Joplin’s struggle to invent herself as an artist. Her parents helped her spread her wings by sending her off to live in California with two aunts, but she wanted to fully experience the life of a struggling artist. This book described her struggle with herself, seeking for approval and being almost a perfectionist. She sought out love and experimented with her sexuality. This very open book about her life concluded with her untimely accidental death by drug overdose. Angel depicted the era that Joplin was growing up in very well where students are able to seek further information about the issues that Joplin stumbled on. Angel was able to paint a perfect picture how drugs and desire to be loved led to her accidental death. Students and teachers may want to display books or create an informational pamphlet of the many of tragic deaths using drugs of movie stars and artists during Red Ribbon Week to show the school environment that everyone struggles with life, but drugs are not a solution.