"A star is how you know it’s almost night.
As soon as you see one, there’s another, and another.
And the dark that comes doesn’t feel so dark.
What if you could have a star?"
TITLE: Stars
AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: Mary Lyn Ray / Marla Frazee
PUBLISHER: Beach Lane Books PUBLICATION DATE: October 4, 2011
GENRE: Contemporary Children's Literature READING LEVEL: 3-7 years
BRIEF OVERVIEW: Modern twists on an ancient idea, “stars” are being described to children in ways they haven’t thought of before! The book connects to students lives by relating stars to things they see every day and ways to see different kinds of stars. The pictures are beautifully illustrated with the words small at the bottom, almost handwritten, with big pictures that take up the page. The color contrast in the pictures is beautiful; the darkness of the background really makes the stars stand out on the page.
INTEGRATED ACTIVITY: This is an excellent book to help teach students’ self-esteem. The star is a symbol for self-esteem and self-love, (“always keep a star in your pocket for dark times”), this could be used to help children understand that life is not always bright and beautiful, but even in the darkest of times there can still be something beautiful. Children could physically draw out stars to keep in their pockets, or desks, etc., to look back to for self-esteem help. On the back of each star they will write one positive thing about themselves.
REVIEWER’S NAME & AFFILIATION: Patricia Price - VSU Teacher Candidate - LITR 3110 A
**If you have chance- look at a few of the illustrations from the book! Each picture is drawn so beautifully.
