Stella, Princess of the Sky

October 1, 2004
K-Gr 2 -With charm and whimsy, Stella and Sam are back, this time spending an evening outside watching daylight fade into dusk, then night. Sam is the quintessential preschooler-full of wondrous questions. Big sister Stella is the authority on their domain, effectively answering him and calming his fears. " 'Why is [the sky] so red?' asked Sam. 'Can't you see? It's wearing red pajamas.'" She points out a family of raccoons. " 'Why are they wearing masks?' asked Sam. 'Are they robbers?' 'No, they're going to a costume party,' said Stella." The detailed illustrations effectively capture the deep blues, blacks, and grays of night, while also illuminating the siblings with pale azures, sage greens, and soft lavenders. This is a quiet star of a story that works well either as a group read-aloud or as a bedtime treasure to share one-on-one.-Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2004
PreS. Flame-haired Stella returns with more fanciful explanations for her inquisitive younger brother, Sam. This time, Sam is puzzled by the night sky, and Stella answers his questions with her familiar whimsy. "Can the moon fly?" asks Sam. "It floats in the air like a balloon," Stella answers. Preschoolers may chortle over Sam's naivete, but they'll definitely appreciate his honest struggle to grasp cosmic subjects, as in his reply to Stella's balloon comparison: "Who's holding the string?" Gay won Canada's Governor General Award for her illustrations in" Stella, Star of the Sea " (1999), and here, her joyful, airy watercolors, dabbed with bits of collage and opaque paint, are just as fine as they show the siblings side by side under a sky of shifting stars. Pair this with Charlotte Zolotow' s " Do You Know What I'll Do?" (2000) for another elegantly simple, sweet view of a protective older sister and younger brother who play and wonder together. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)