The Golden Thread: A Song for Pete Seeger

Written by Colin Meloy

Narrated by Colin Meloy

With dazzling, lyrical verse in the folk revival style, Colin Meloy pays tribute to Pete Seeger, a visionary who changed the world with song.

Pete Seeger once sang that if he had a golden thread, he would use it to weave people from all over the world to one another. That golden thread, for Pete, was music.

Born into a family of traveling musicians, Pete picked up his first instrument at age seven. From then on, music was his life, whether he was playing banjo for soldiers during World War II, rallying civil rights activists and war protesters with songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” and “If I Had a Hammer,” or leading environmental efforts to clean up the Hudson River.

For decades, Pete Seeger’s messages of universal understanding and social and environmental justice inspired generations—and have left a lasting legacy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9780062842053

Colin Meloy

Colin Meloy is the author of The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid and the New York Times bestselling Wildwood Chronicles as well as two picture books, The Golden Thread: A Song for Pete Seeger and Everyone’s Awake. He is also the singer and songwriter for the indie rock band the Decemberists. Colin lives in Oregon with his wife and frequent collaborator, illustrator Carson Ellis, and their sons.

Reviews for The Golden Thread

[melodyreads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love the lyrical telling of this strongly American folk singer

[lisa2013_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I got excited when read author’s and illustrator’s bios section on the inside back cover of the book, before I read the book, and saw what personal ties they each had to Pete Seeger. Even though they were transient, I felt thrilled. I was fortunate to have seen Pete Seeger in concert many, many times from early childhood through my twenties and a few times since, mostly at outdoor concerts but in many locales. He’s one of my favorite song writers, singers, and activists, and people. I miss him and treasure the music and stories he’s left behind.So I really, really, really wanted to adore this book and assumed I’d really like it.I did like it.It’s for older kids, I think, and in order for today’s kids to enjoy it I think they’ll need to already have some familiarity with Pete Seeger’s music. If they don’t, I highly recommend that they listen to (and even better watch!) many of his songs as they read this book. (I had the songs going in my head as I read, and it did have me wanting to watch some videos/listen to some music.) The poem/story is good, but I do think I liked it at last partly because I already knew Pete’s story.The art technique of paper images cut with an X-Acto knife in gold and black on white is certainly interesting, and a lot of research went into creating images that were realistic to Pete and the history he was part of, but they’re not aesthetically that pleasing to me even though I did like them, but I’m not sure if kids will like them.I do recommend this for Pete Seeger fans, and for kids who are not familiar with him, I think they should watch/listen to his music and listen to him talking, always a part of his wonderful concerts as well as at protests, so they can fully appreciate this book. Of course, I could be wrong and children might enjoy this as a new introduction to Pete Seeger.