Review: Beyoncé: Queen of the Spotlight by Ebony Joy Wilkins, illustrated by Luisa Uribe

Sasha Fierce aka Beyoncé — beautiful ambitious megastar with the voice of a goddess — but did you know behind the alter ego growing up Queen Bey was shy and struggled with stage fright? 

This captivating mid-grade bio, one of 12 titles in the Trailblazer's series, reveals lesser-known facts about Beyoncé's life while detailing her epic rise to stardom. 

Crammed with fascinating accounts, we learn she was a loner at school, often teased by peers due to her unusual name and difficulties with academic subjects. More positively, we also gain insight into her precocious musical gift and creative influences, supportive family upbringing, and girl-band highs (and lows). 

The book concludes with knowledge about her astounding present-day solo career, marriage, motherhood, dedication to Black activism, and extensive charity work. 

Although there is a ton of well-researched information in each chapter, African American author Ebony Joy Wilkins' delivery is pacy, simple, and clear. The lengthy chronological text is cleverly divided into chunks by snippets of trivia, greyscale comic-strip-style illustrations, and other eye-catching design features including speech bubbles, celebrity quotes, and posters. Additionally, lovely explanatory inserts will aid children's understanding of keywords or more difficult concepts, while extending their vocabulary. 

The well-considered layout will largely engage independent readers at KS2, especially as they can dip into any section, including a handy glossary, index and timeline, in a non-linear fashion. 

Carefully selected extracts could be used to provide shared reading opportunities, examining the key features of biographical texts, and review the effect of layout and presentation on the reader.  

Children might enjoy creating their own music-icon slideshow presentations, using the book as well as internet research for suitable music excerpts, images, or additional facts (music/computing). 

No stone is left unturned in what is a very balanced and moving portrayal, and some sensitive topics — her bouts of depression and periods of extreme weight loss and dieting — are touched on briefly. If the text is chosen for independent reading, adults will need to decide if these topics suit the maturity levels of potential readers and they should discuss the issues them as appropriate. 

Wilkins has captured magnificently the drive, tenacity, independence, and sheer creative talent of this Black musical icon, but importantly she includes her softer, caring side, too! This book is a must-have for Beyoncé fans, and those curious to learn more about this contemporary female role model! 

Guide for teachers and parents

Genre	Non-fiction: biographical text
Child-led interests (EYFS)	N/A
Age group (EYFS, KS1, KS2)	KS2 (upper)
Curriculum links/topics (EYFS/NC)	English: Reading comprehension (Y5/6) - continuing to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks; reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes; checking that the book makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and exploring the meaning of words in context;  asking questions to improve their understanding; summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas; identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning; retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction; explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, including through formal presentations and debates, maintaining a focus on the topic and using notes where necessary; Music: appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians; develop an understanding of the history of music; Computing: use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content; select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information; use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact;
Suitability	whole-class teaching, home-library (independent read with adult input)
General features	biography; opening statement/hook; third-person pronouns; written in chronological chapters but broken up by extra explanatory text and additional info including fact files and quotes; key life events and influences; images and text boxes; glossary, timeline

All the Black children's books that I review are checked against my Jericho Benchmark.