9780241716434

PUFFIN

PUFFIN BOOKS

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

India | New Zealand | South Africa

Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com. www.penguin.co.uk www.puf f in.co.uk www.ladybird.co.uk

First published in the United States of America by Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, 2023

First published in Great Britain by Puffin Books 2024

001

Photo credits: 13, 29, 45, 61, 73: (speech bubbles with question marks) Oleksandr Melnyk/iStock/Getty Images

The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

Text design by Kimberley Sampson

Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A

The authorized representative in the EEA is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978–0–241–71643–4

All correspondence to: Puffin Books

Penguin Random House Children’s One Embassy Gardens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London SW11 7BW

Penguin Random Hous e is committed to a sust ainable future for our business , our readers and our planet. is book is made from Forest Stewardship Council® certiﬁed paper

The Early Years: Christmas Trees and LeAnn Rimes CDs ................................ 4

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Rise to Fame: Learning the Ropes .................................. 20 Defining Moments, From Fearless to Folklore ..................................36 The Public Life of a Very Private Person ................................. 52 What’s Next for the Renaissance Woman? ........................... 68

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE EARLY YEARS: CHRISTMAS TREES AND LEANN RIMES CDS

America’s Sweetheart

She’s the total package. A vocalist of astounding power and gravitas. A talented songwriter with a diverse range, she can create mature, thoughtful compositions as well as light, frothy pop hits. She’s Taylor Swift. Often referred to as “America’s Sweetheart,” she’s actually so much more than that.

Maybe you like her early country music songs or her more experimental albums like Folklore. Perhaps you dance to “Shake It Off” when you need to de-stress after a tough day at school.

But who is Taylor Swift, and how did she get to be one of the most iconic stars in the history of popular music? Believe it or not, before all the glitz and the glamour, she was just a small child with big dreams.

4

Part I

FAST FACTS!

While she’s adept at playing the piano, banjo, and ukulele, Taylor prefers playing the guitar.

Taylor Swift was named after singer and songwriter James Taylor, one of her parents’ favorite artists.

5

A Magical Childhood

Taylor Alison Swift was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on December 13, 1989. Her father, Scott, is a stockbroker, and her mother, Andrea, is a homemaker and a former mutual fund marketing executive. Taylor’s brother, Austin, was born when she was two years old.

Taylor’s childhood was, in some ways, like something out of a fairy tale. She grew up on her parents’ Christmas tree farm in Reading, where she rode horses and enjoyed the wide-open spaces.

But in certain ways, Taylor had a childhood like any other. True, she was surrounded by Christmas trees and ponies for the first decade of her life. But like any other kid, she had to help out around the house. At the farm, this meant that it was her job to pick praying mantis pods off the trees before they were sold to customers.

6

FAST FACTS!

In 2019, Taylor Swift released a song called “Christmas Tree Farm,” which was inspired by her childhood.

Taylor Swift believes that thirteen is her lucky number. She was born on December 13, her first album went gold in thirteen weeks, and her first single, “Tim McGraw,” had a thirteen-second intro.

7

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook