Having written a 992-page memoir and recorded the 48-hour audiobook edition herself, Barbra Streisand is turning her creative energies to children’s literature.
Flamingo Books announced that it will publish the legendary singer and actor’s And by the Way…, illustrated by Paige Keiser, next year. It calls the book a “warmhearted, loving picture book” that follows “a sweet grandparent-grandchild pair on a dazzling day as they play, splash, and contemplate life’s most important truths.”
Streisand, one of the world’s most iconic entertainers, first rose to fame in the early 1960s with her 1963 debut record, The Barbra Streisand Album, which won the Grammy Award for album of the year. After a string of other successful albums, she turned to acting, winning praise for her performances in films including Funny Girl, The Way We Were, and Yentl.
In 2023, she published her autobiography, My Name Is Barbra; in a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “What a talent, what a career, what a life, and what a treat to relive it all with this most down-to-earth of demigods.”
In a statement, Streisand suggested that although kids are the audience for the book, it aims to be ageless and evergreen. “I love being ‘Gamma Barbra’ to my three wonderful young grandchildren,” she said. “One of our favorite activities is reading picture books together—sometimes the same ones over and over again! So, I thought it would be fun to write my own book…for them…and hopefully, for other parents and grandparents to read to their little ones!”
And by the Way… is slated for publication on March 30, 2027.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
