A Sky Full of Stars

September 1, 2017

Gr 5-7-Jackson's second novel in the continuing story of Rosa "Rose" Lee Carter, a 13-year-old African American girl growing up in Mississippi. The year is 1955, and the town of Stillwater, MI, is still reeling from the injustice of Emmett Till's murderers going free. The white folks are saying that ever since the trial, "the coloreds have gotten beside themselves." Trouble is brewing closer to Rosa than it ever has before. Her best friend, Hallelujah, the preacher's son, is stirring up talk of holding demonstrations in Stillwater. But it is Rosa's cousin Shorty who is determined to take a stronger stance against whites, using guns instead of words. While the backdrop of the story depicts the violence and hatred toward blacks in the South, racial tension and injustice is weaved throughout Rosa's own story. Many readers will be shaken by the level of violence that pervaded this time and region of the country, while others will see echoes of this history in current events. There is also much inspiration to be found in Rosa's resilience and her determination to make something good of her life and not leave her beloved South for a "safer" part of the country. Jackson presents a raw and frank look at what growing up in the deep South during Jim Crow was really like. VERDICT A powerful and well-crafted novel that will spark deep discussion of this era in U.S. history-and its contemporary repercussions.-Carol Connor, Cincinnati Public Schools, OH

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 30, 2017
Jackson’s novel—a sequel to Midnight Without a Moon, but easily read as a standalone—takes place in the town of Stillwater, Miss., in 1955, during the charged months following the death of Emmett Till and the acquittal of his killers. Thirteen-year-old Rose Lee Carter struggles with questions of race relations and political activism in her family and community. Rose and her brother are being raised by their grandparents—mean-spirited Ma Pearl and gentle Papa—who tend to a white family’s house and cotton plantation; the siblings’ parents are married to others and are absent from their lives. Jackson presents the lingering racist perspectives of white Southerners (“I wish the coloreds up north would realize how happy the coloreds are down here”) and, a little less smoothly, includes a lot of black history under the guise of conversation. The relentless killing of black men by whites is uncomfortably timely, as are the conflicts between Rose’s friend Hallelujah, who advocates peaceful demonstrations, and her cousin Shorty, who believes violence should be responded to in kind. Readers will be left with much to consider and discuss. Ages 10–12.

November 1, 2017
Race, police brutality, and a justice system that won't hold guilty white men accountable for menacing fellow black citizens--topical current events reveal their gnarled, bitter roots.In this sequel to Midnight Without a Moon (2017), a story that followed the horrific lynching of Emmett Till, Jackson continues the tale. It's Stillwater, Mississippi, in November 1955. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam have been acquitted of Till's murder despite several witnesses to their crime. The boy's purported crime was whistling at a white woman. His sentence was death. Rose "Rosa" Lee Carter is a 13-year-old black girl struggling to make sense of her world in the aftermath of such a blatant miscarriage of justice. The story of racial injustice in the Deep South feels all the more wicked told through the eyes of a young girl. Rosa Lee's coming-of-age during the turbulent era shows her quest for survival--within her family, as a young black woman, as a soul burning for justice. Jackson sensitively shows how Rosa changes from a girl consumed with shame--for her dark skin, for her grandmother Ma Pearl's cruelty, and for her mother's abandonment--into a girl learning to take pride in herself and what she brings to the world.Filled with teachable moments that are perfect for modern-day discussions of race and justice, this is also a story about the complexities of family and choices. (Historical fiction. 10-12)

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December 1, 2017
Grades 5-7 The murder of Emmett Till provides a context for this dramatic story of the segregated South in the 1950s. Thirteen-year-old Rosa's best friend Hallelujah, the minister's son, believes peaceful protests are the answer to violence, while her cousin Shorty calls for meeting violence with violence. Rosa finds herself caught in the middle of these contrasting viewpoints. She leans in Hallelujah's favor but is reluctant to break off her tentative friendship with Shortyhe has access to Rosa's father, whom she has never met, having been raised by her grandfather Papa and acerbic grandmother Ma Pearl. Rosa dreams of a reunion with her father, but the formidable Ma Pearl forbids it. In the meantime, violence and injustice continue to escalate. Will peaceful protests be a viable answer? This de facto sequel to Jackson's first novel, Midnight without a Moon (2017), is equally successful at dramatizing the lives of black people in the pre-civil rights South and capturing the sensibility of its setting, which together ensure the book will be a valuable classroom resource.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)