The title page of Gold­en Books’s Bar­bra Streisand fea­tures an oval por­trait of the star in her Broad­way debut as Miss Marmel­stein in I Can Get It for You Whole­sale (1962). Most young read­ers will not be famil­iar with the begin­ning of Streisand’s career; they might not know much about the singer, actress, direc­tor, and Jew­ish super­star at all. Now, in this book, Streisand’s many accom­plish­ments and Jew­ish iden­ti­ty are made acces­si­ble to both chil­dren and adults.

Streisand was born in Brook­lyn in 1942, when Jews’ place in Amer­i­ca was ten­u­ous because of World War II. She lost her father at a young age and often felt iso­lat­ed from her class­mates, but she also had con­fi­dence in her own tal­ent. After reject­ing her mother’s sug­ges­tion that she become a sec­re­tary, Streisand audi­tioned at night­clubs and soon became a sen­sa­tion. ​“The audi­ence loved her,” the author writes. ​“Bar­bra won the contest!”

Var­i­ous images depict Streisand stand­ing in a spot­light in a black dress, per­form­ing in Fun­ny Girl (1964), and receiv­ing the Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Hon­or from Barack Oba­ma. Anoth­er shows Streisand hold­ing an Oscar and utter­ing that famous New York – accent­ed quip, ​“Hel­lo gorgeous.”

The author points out the ways in which Streisand’s iden­ti­ties as a Jew and a woman inter­sect­ed with her life in show busi­ness. The first Broad­way show Streisand attend­ed as a teen was The Diary of Anne Frank. She mar­ried Elliot Gould, her costar in the Jew­ish-themed Whole­sale, who was also raised in a Jew­ish fam­i­ly. And of course, her por­tray­al of the unapolo­get­i­cal­ly Jew­ish come­di­an Fan­ny Brice in Fun­ny Girl was a trib­ute to her equal­ly bold pre­de­ces­sor. Lat­er, Streisand defied tra­di­tion­al gen­der roles by becom­ing the direc­tor of the film Yentl (1983).

Nos­tal­gia, a key part of the Gold­en Books brand, per­me­ates this slim biog­ra­phy — a biog­ra­phy that sends a big mes­sage about tal­ent, per­sis­tence, and pride.