Another cheery volume in a series of biographies for children, this one begins with the musician and actor’s childhood where he showed a talent for singing and dancing. He then studied art, music, and design at school, where “Sometimes his teachers were not sure if he was a boy or a girl, but David was just delighted to be himself.”
We watch him form a band with a friend and then strike out on his own, developing his own sense of style and performance. “He kept reinventing himself” and inspired others “to find their own voice and dare to be different.”
Some parts of his life, such as his drug addiction, has been left out to make the book appropriate for young readers, but the story nevertheless conveys his imagination, style, and flair.
I have only two small concerns that take little away from the book’s overall appeal. In mentioning the injury that changed the look of one eye, the text tells us it “made him strangely magnetic.” Might young readers take that literally and think he attracted metal objects? Adults may have to explain. I also wish that a reference to “the day man first walked on the moon” had been “the day humans first walked on the moon.”
The mention of his gender creativity is enough for me to include the book in this database of LGBTQ representation. While the book itself does not discuss Bowie’s sexuality beyond showing one image of him holding hands with his wife Iman, his known bisexuality is enough for me to also tag this review that way, if only to help people find the book.
Available as a board book or standard hardcover picture book.
