Stars in the Darkness

by Barbara M. Joosse

In the imagination of a young inner-city boy, police sirens sound like howling wolves, streetlights look like stars, and shots fired by neighborhood gangs sound like those stars cracking the darkness.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811821684
• ISBN13: 9780811821681
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Length: 36 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.4" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

A beautiful book!

This book is worth buying twice just to support the author. Fantastic writing, illustrating, everything. As soon as I picked it up I was instantly drawn to its pages and once I began I couldn't put it down-and it's a book for kids! In any case, it's a book all pre-schoolers will cherish. It's about love and family and sticking together to overcome adversity. I can't wait for Barbara Joosse's next book. She's doing something great. And as always, I leave you with my favorite picks: most creative, The Butterfly: A Fable (Singh); most engaging, The Alchemist (Coelho); most interesting, Life of Pi (Martel); most enlightening, 9-11 (Chomsky); most thrilling, The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Sebold); and finally, the most creative, engaging, interesting, enlightening and thrilling book of all, The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery). These are the books I'd recommend to my family, friends, students, and wife. There are many more, trust me, but these are the first that come to mind (for having left an impact slight or proud as it may be). If you have any questions, queries, or comments, or maybe even a title you think I should add to my list, please feel free to e-mail me. I'm always open to a good recommendation. Thanks for reading my brief but hopefully helpful review. Happy reading. Donald S. Buckland

Powerfully Evocative and Compelling.....

"Sometimes, Mama and me look down at the street and pretend it's not the city. We shut out eyes so only a crack is open, lookin' through our eyelshes, and pretend we live on the moon. The lights we see? They're stars, as many as the sky can hold. And sirens? That's wild wolves howlin' at the moon. If there's shots fired, we say it's the light of the stars crackin' the darkness..." So begins Barbara Joosse's nameless young narrator's story of the dangerous and tenuous life in the inner city. When his beloved brother, Richard, stops coming home at night, he and his mother realize he's become a gang banger. "We can't pretend no more," she says. "We gotta be strong now." His mother implores him, "Don't you be hanging' out with those bangers, Richard. Don't. Be somebody for this world." But Richard is caught up in the life, "walkin' that walk, like he's King Stuff." When Richard comes home injured and bandaged, Mama and Richard's little brother hatch a plan, a plan to take back the neighborhood. "We call 'em Peace Walks. Every night now, there's family on the street. We take turns walkin' the night. When it's my turn, I shut my eyes so only a slit is open, and I look through my eyelashes. I see streetlights, like before, but now I see flashlights, too. Stars crackin' the darkness." Ms Joosse's bittersweet picture book, geared to little brothers and sisters, "the stars in the darkness," is neither judgemental nor sentimental, but truthful and filled with hope. Her evocative text, rich in imagery and magic, is compelling, written in realistic language and complemented by Gregory Christie's powerfully bold and expressive illustrations. Together word and art paint a vivid portrait of life in the inner city, family love, and the courage and strength to try and make a difference. With an Author's Note about the real Richard, to enhance the story and help open important discussions, and a comprehensive list of resources on gang prevention, Stars In The Darkness is an inspiring narrative that shouldn't be missed, and definitely one of the best new books of 2002. Kudos to Joosse and Christie.

A profoundly moving and hopeful book

Author Joosse chooses a tough subject and writes about it in the most touching manner. The love of a family, a mother and a younger brother, are not enough to keep a boy from joining a gang. Even though Richard tries to hide his gang activities from them, the young narrator of the story tells us "I know what I know." The boy and his mother come up with a plan that involves their neighbors, making them true "stars in the darkness." Every parent and child will find in this powerful book a way to connect to the feelings, fears, and hopes of the families whose lives are affected by gangs.