The Cosmic Voyage of David Bowie’

Music legend David Bowie’s dazzling life is coming to shelves.

Starman: The Cosmic Voyage of David Bowie by author Matthew Cordell is set to come out in fall 2026 from Holiday House Publishing and PEOPLE can exclusively share the cover. 

The illustration shows Bowie’s body inside of a star shooting through outer space. Each point of the star includes Bowie in a different outfit, highlighting the various phases of his career. Written in a unique, geometric font, the title treatment of the finished book will be done in silver foil.

As a lifelong Bowie fan, Cordell’s goal with this book was to pay homage to Bowie’s larger-than-life persona. By fictionalizing him as a real spaceman visiting new galaxies in each era of his career, Cordell brings young readers into the magic and wonder of Bowie’s life. The children’s book is a galactic journey, with stops representing each phase of the artist’s ever-transforming career.

“I wanted to share with young readers Bowie’s journey in a similar sense of how he lived it — traveling with eyes wide open, constantly seeking and observing, all with an intergalactic flair,” Cordell tells PEOPLE in an exclusive statement. “I love the way Bowie’s endless curiosity led him to discover, be inspired by and implement new sounds into his own artistic output, throughout his artistic life.”

Author and illustrator Cordell is also the illustrator of The Only Fish in the Sea and Follow That Frog by Philip Stead and the author/illustrator of books like Hello, Neighbor! The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers, Bear Island, and Wish.

Along with the cover, three out-of-this-world inside spreads were shared exclusively with PEOPLE. The first, coming at the beginning of the book, introduces Bowie and shows him blasting off into space as a younger man.

The second spread illustrates Bowie’s transformation into “Ziggy Stardust,” a stage name he coined for himself back in 1972.

The third spread shared with PEOPLE introduces Bowie as the “Thin White Duke,” a persona he embraced with his album Station to Station released in 1975. This was a darker point in Bowie’s career, expressed by Cordell through the use of grey, black and red in his illustrations.

Cordell’s work has been recognized countless times, including as Best of the Year selections by the New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. In 2018, his first wordless picture book, Wolf in the Snow, was awarded the Caldecott Medal, following a Boston Globe-Horn Book honor award in 2017.

“If there were only one thing to take away from Bowie, it would this — the world is vast and we will never know it all,” Cordell shares with PEOPLE. “So stay curious and never stop seeking, be open to new ideas art and try new things always.”

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Starman: The Cosmic Voyage of David Bowie will hit shelves on Sept 1. and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.