STARMAN

A portrait of David Bowie.

“Once there was a traveler. An artist. A cosmic, celestial, musical artist who traveled far and wide, who searched for and discovered different people, places, and sounds.” Cordell introduces readers, section by section, to Bowie’s different personae: Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, Soul Man, the Thin White Duke, and Pop Star. The idea is that with each change, Bowie was being true to himself (although even Bowie’s fans might suspect that he sometimes had commercial considerations in mind). While the be-yourself message might tempt adults to read the book to young children in hopes of kindling interest in the musician, this title is strictly for tweens and teens, and not just because it touches on Bowie’s “unhealthy addictions.” The text is so relentlessly introspective (“How do you describe your inside self? Your feelings, the things about you no one else knows? Can music express that part of you? Can art?”) that young kids would likely find it something Bowie never was: boring. Backmatter supplies the biographical information absent from the main narrative, as well as a playlist. Caldecott Medalist Cordell’s ravishing, star-dusted mixed-media art enlists a different palette for each Bowie persona. Illustrations of the musician frequently conjure Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince: blond and somewhere other than planet Earth.

A dreamy account for contemplative tweens and teens.