Eloise and the Bucket of Stars by Janeen Brian

Eloise Pail is the oldest child living at the Children of Paradise Orphanage. If you have read other books about orphans and orphanages you will recognise at once that this place is not a paradise. The children are cold, starving and afraid and Eloise herself is treated like a servant. In the opening scene Eloise has taken advantage of an opportunity to enter Sister Hortense's office. Inside this office is the book of official records. Eloise is desperate to discover anything she can about her identity. She has estimated she was born in about 1807 but all she knows is that she was found outside "a newborn baby left in a bucket with only a scrap of a blanket." Unfortunately she cannot find any entries in the book that mention her name but her search is interrupted by the dreadful and cruel Sister Hortense who nearly catches her during this search.

The orphanage has no running water so each day Eloise is sent to the village of Whittering with two wooden buckets. While this is a hard task, especially in her too small shoes, it is also a happy one because it gives Eloise a chance, even briefly, to be free. Oddly her town is surrounded by high walls with just one pair of gates which are only open during the day. Eloise has asked her friend Mr Jackson, the blacksmith, about the gates and his answer hints at a mystery:

"Keep out robbers. And ... maybe other mysterious beings."

The mystery has a connection to Whittering Pond which is the only water source for the town. It is located outside the town wall. After her visit to the town square Eloise climbs a wall at the back of the orphanage she is able, for the first time in her life, to see outside. It is very significant, but Eloise herself does not know this, that she can see the pond.

Apart from Mr Jackson, Eloise does have one "friend" in the orphanage - Sister Genevieve - but the young sister is terrified of Sister Hortsense and so her kindness to Eloise is very limited but she does manage to show Eloise a book of stories - myths and legends about magical creatures and this is how Eloise discovers a story about a unicorn. So now we have some puzzle pieces which need to be connected. The pond, a legend about a unicorn, an ancient note to decipher which Mr Jackson has found, strange bumps on her own head and a bump on the forehead of the horse she visits each day, and the odd behaviour of two mysterious men who have arrived in the town. Eloise is sure they are up to mischief.

Perhaps, though, Eloise cannot solve this mystery alone. A new girl arrives at the orphanage - Janie Pritchard. Eloise does not trust Janie and now she is told she has to share everything - her sleeping space, her visits to Mr Jackson, her horse Dancy and perhaps her secret knowledge of the unicorn and its connection with the pond.

Take a look at this Reading Time post which explains the evolution of the cover by Tracie Grimwood.

Janeen Brian is the author of one of my favourite picture books - Where does Thursday go?  I should also mention Our Village in the Sky which sadly was overlooked by the CBCA judges back in 2014. She is also the author of two out of print titles from the Aussie Nibbles series - Pop up Fox and Party Time.

I am going to predict this book will be included in the 2021 CBCA Notables - yes it is THAT good! This book is due for publication in June 2020. Thank you to Beachside Bookshop and Walker Books for my advance reader copy. There were moments in this book when I gasped out loud and the graphic descriptions of the disgusting food will linger with me for a long time.

I seem to be reading a series of books about girls living in orphanages. In a few days I will talk about The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke (published July 2020) which is perhaps the best book I have read this month.  Here are some other books about orphans which I enjoyed:

The Wonderling

Beyond the Bright Sea

 Sweet Adversity

The Truth about Verity Sparks