“It means a lot to me,” she said, “you showing me the stars.”
“It means a lot to me,” he said, “you wanting to see them.”
Before you read this book it is essential to read the introduction but I do need to say it made me cry. Katherine Paterson visited a jail many years ago and talked to a group of inmates about her book The Great Gilly Hopkins. Here is part of her introduction:
I do know that no child makes it without at least one caring adult in his or her life. ... “What’s your name?” I asked a young man handing me his book. “Oh, it’s not for me,” he said. “It’s for my daughter. Her name is Angel.” ... I wrote this book for the many Angels in our world. I hope they find it. And I hope those of us who are more fortunate will take a wiser, more empathetic look at the Angels in our midst and remember that we all are made from the same stuff, the stuff of stars.
Angel and her brother Bernie have very difficult lives. They keep moving house, dad is in jail, and mum seems to have no idea how to care for her kids so all of that responsibility falls onto the shoulders of eleven year old Angel. In the opening scene they go to the jail to visit her dad but then we learn that this will be the last visit - not because he is being released but because Verna has decided to move on again. This time, after a long drive to a remote farm house, they end up with an elderly relative Angel vaguely remembers - this is her great grandmother and things are about to become even more difficult for Angel.
Things that I loved about the way Katherine Paterson has written this book:
- Little Bernie always repeats important words three times - he is so used to no one listening properly to what he has to say.
- I could almost taste all the food in this book - from the disgusting to the delicious. And I desperately wanted Angel to fill a glass with milk - she shouldn't have to keep worrying that there won't be enough for her brother. Luckily they do eat some delicious popsicles.
- The Star man is a very special character who shows his love through his kind actions even though he knows his mother has decided he does not exist. Thank goodness he leaves food and milk on her doorstep each week. Spoiler alert - his funeral will leave make you cry.
- The town library (and the school library) are so important in this story as is the beautiful librarian Miss Liza. I would love to hug her tiny, damaged body.
- Angel should not have to take on such enormous responsibilities of care for her young brother, but it is just so special the way she is always trying to keep him safe and happy - she truly loves him.
- Angels' huge toy bear named Grizzle is almost another character in the story. I loved the way he bought comfort to the kids, but I did want someone to give him a bath.
- Even though there are really heavy themes in this book every now and then Katherine Paterson gives her read a tiny smile moment such as when Bernie says to Angel “How come you get to choose?” “Because I’m the biggest.” “You’re always the biggest.”
- There is a reference in this story to making Maple Syrup which took me right back to another book I read this year Just Like Jackie.
- I also find an old book series called The Stupids by Harry Allard illustrated by James Marshall (1974) - I didn't realise this was a real book! Well done to Miss Liza for sharing this book with Bernie - the right book at the right time!
- Miss Liza also gives Angel a perfect book - Know the Stars by AH Ray (1962). She left the library with three books and a heart too full to speak.
Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this story:
Bernie was watching entirely too much television. Angel knew about the evils of too much TV for kids. It was like getting only sugar in your mental diet—like not eating all the five major food groups. Ms. Hallingford, Angel’s fifth-grade teacher, was big on the major food groups. She’d also said TV could be a really serious hindrance in a child’s mental development, in the same way not eating right could stunt your physical growth. Angel grabbed the remote and punched the red button.
“Hurry up, and I mean both of you. I swear, sometimes you kids act like snails on Valium. . . . Get a move on, will you?” How could Angel hurry? She stared dumbly into the closet. Verna had said she could take only what fit into the green plastic suitcase that Welfare had given her last year so she wouldn’t have to carry her stuff around in a garbage bag.
It was one thing to leave your kids in an all-night diner by mistake. It was something else to leave them in the country on purpose. That would be too much like Hansel and Gretel.
Everything was going to be all right. ... She knew it, sitting on those steps eating a cherry Popsicle, a real backpack on her back with books inside waiting to be read, and groceries in all five major food groups waiting to be bought. She didn’t have anything to worry about today, and she wasn’t going to get all stressed out about tomorrow. Not while she had the chill syrupy taste of a cherry Popsicle in her mouth.
But now she knew it was true. At least in her head she knew it was a fact. All the things that had happened to her and Bernie hadn’t been their fault. She was sick and tired of thinking it was her fault when they got left at cold apartments and all-night diners and grandmas ...
Word placement is everything - and Katherine Paterson is a master of this. Look at the highlighted words in this sentence which reveals so much about young Angel and her circumstances. She is getting ready for bed - which is the lounge room couch. She does not turn on the light because that will mean trouble from Verna, her mother: She yanked hard and lifted up the couch seat, turning it into her bed. ... Then she fumbled in the top drawer of the dresser for her nightshirt, really just one of Verna’s old T-shirts, and slipped it over her narrow shoulders.
Look at this sentence too - Angel is thinking about her responsibilities and also about the time when she first held Bernie. Katherine Paterson weaves in a reference which echoes Angels new found interest in astronomy: The thrill was long gone, but the duty had become like the sun in the solar system, the center around which all the other parts of her life revolved. Without it, she would likely fly to pieces.
The heartbreaking abandonment of Angel and her brother is sure to remind you of The Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt.
I am not very good at reading chapter headings especially in a book as good as this one where I just wanted to keep 'turning the page' so anxious for the outcome. But here are some of the chapter headings so you can see they are important and have been carefully worded by Katherine Patterson: A Is for Astronomy; The Swan; Miss Liza of the Library; Know the Stars; To School We Go; Draco the Dragon; Polaris; Consider the Heavens; Galileo Galilei; Falling Stars; Stardust to Stardust; Take Something Like a Star; Shining Stars.
A gently written tale of family caught in the most corrosive of situations, this is a story of guilt and reconciliation. Kirkus Star review
Publisher blurb (from author webpage): Angel Morgan needs help. Her daddy is in jail, and her mother has abandoned Angel and her little brother, Bernie, at their great-grandmother’s crumbling Vermont farmhouse. Grandma, aged and poor, spends most of her time wrapped in a blanket by the woodstove and can’t care for the children. That’s left up to Angel, even though she is not yet twelve. In this dreary world of canned beans and peaches, of adult worries and loneliness, there is only one bright spot—a mysterious stranger who appears on clear nights and teaches Angel all about the stars and planets and constellations. Angel’s quest to carve out a new life for herself and Bernie makes for a powerful, moving story that could arise only from the keen sensitivity, penetrating sense of drama, and honed skill of master storyteller Katherine Paterson.
I follow Katherine Paterson on Facebook and a few days ago she posted an article from a US Newspaper called The Mountaineer. In their religion section the reported talked about this book - The Same Stuff as Stars - by Katherine Paterson (2002). I have read lots of her books but not this one. I shared this with my friend and she hadn't read it either so we have both decided to find and read The Same Stuff as Stars. I added it to my Kindle library and read the whole book in one day - yes, it is that good - a completely engrossing story filled with heartbreak and deep honesty.
Here is part of the newspaper article (in case the link requires a subscription):
Newbery and National Book Award honored writer Katherine Paterson (“Bridge to Terabithia,” “Jacob Have I Loved”) illustrates this in her powerful, yet bittersweet, young adult novel “The Same Stuff as Stars.” I encourage you to find a copy and enter a story that broadens your understanding of what it’s like to live in childhood poverty and to wish for words of approval — to know you are beloved when you are abandoned and feel worthless. We all need to be needed. The story also captures the vastness of the universe in which we live. ...
Now that I hope I have convinced you to read this book you will have to visit a library or read the ebook version as it is now sadly out of print (published 2002) and I couldn't find any suppliers but here is the paperback ISBN [9780544540309] just in case you have another way of searching.
After reading this book you need to find this title by Peter Sis:
You might also want to read the full poem: “Take Something Like a Star” from The Poetry of Robert Frost.
Companion books:
Ruby on the Outside
