Strange Mr. Satie

Reach for this book when your child feels like a square peg in a round hole or is being teased for their unusual interests. It is a whimsical biography of the French composer Erik Satie, a man who famously wore only gray velvet suits and wrote music meant to be ignored. Through his eccentric life, the book explores themes of creative independence and the courage it takes to be oneself when the world expects you to fit in. This is an excellent choice for nurturing self-confidence in kids who think outside the box. It celebrates the idea that being different is not a flaw to be fixed, but a unique perspective to be celebrated. Appropriate for elementary schoolers, it offers a witty and visually stunning look at how one person's 'strangeness' became their greatest gift to the world.