Bellstorf, Arne. Baby’s In Black.

Bellstorf, Arne.        Baby’s In Black.       Macmillan/ First Second   196p  24.99 978-1-59643-771-5 ms/hs       E-BN  Graphic nonfiction     

Stuart Sutcliffe was a very close friend of John Lennon.  Together they created a band, and in addition to being a fine art student, Stuart knew a little bit about music too.  He played bass to John’s lead guitar.  The band practiced a lot and they were getting good, but it wasn’t until Paul McCartney and George Harrison joined the group that things started move. They played in local venues where they became popular.  Then they were able to go to Germany and got hired by a local club there.  They did very well and the club's owner was making money from the group, but they lived under terrible conditions.  When they demanded a better living space the owner got back at them by alerting the authorities that George Harrison was underage, barely 16.  All the members of the group were still in their teens.  Around this time Stuart met and fell in love with Astrid Kirchherr.  When the group was deported back to England, Stuart stayed behind and wished them luck.  He began to study art seriously and he become a very good artist.  Unfortunately, he became ill, and in less than a year he was gone.

The love story of Stuart and Astrid is bittersweet.  When Stuart died he was barely out of his teens.  The story is very well illustrated and gives the reader a glimpse of how much Stuart was loved by John Lennon, who considered him a brother.                                    --Magna Diaz