LIKE A RAINBOW

The latest pop singer to get the picture-book biography treatment: Cyndi Lauper.

An omniscient narrator introduces young Lauper as a square peg of a kid who grew up in 1960s Queens with her boisterous, cash-strapped Italian American family: “There was shouting, sadness, and worry, but there was also music, laughter, and joy.” Lauper had creativity going for her—she sewed her own clothes and began writing songs after her sister taught her to play guitar—but she left home at 17 because “things happened in Cyndi’s life that made her feel small and scared and silent.” (Running through the book is a dark current—at one point Lauper lived in a hostel for runaways—that makes it more suitable for a somewhat older audience.) Directionless, Lauper took an art class that eventually led her to “her people”: fellow fringe-dwelling artists. She ultimately found a way to mix her keen visual sense with music, working her personal style into her singer-songwriter persona, and went on to record some gangbusters tunes that launched a storied career. In Barrager’s art, cartoonish characters are outlined like cutouts and set against more intricate backgrounds; her images have the pizzazz and anything-goes spirit of the book's subject, and their vibrant palette matches Lauper’s own sartorial choices. Throughout this feisty and encouraging bio, references to rainbows hint at Lauper’s longtime LGBTQ+ advocacy, which is spotlighted in an authors’ note.

A love song to Lauper and to tenacious oddballs everywhere.