Wish on All the Stars

June 14, 2019

Gr 3-7-Juliet, Emma, and Carmen are set to make more wishes come true in their community in this sequel to See You on a Starry Night. The beloved local bookmobile needs saving, so the girls devise a plan to raise money to help pay its rent for the year. Emma's idea is to hold an arts and crafts fair with one of the booths dedicated to Juliet's paintings. Juliet is terrified to share her art with the world; what if no one likes her work? Meanwhile, Carmen is acting strangely and seems afraid to confide in the other girls. When it is revealed that Carmen's mother is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who is facing possible deportation, Juliet and Emma want to do something. But can preteens do anything to help address such a serious issue? Alongide immigration, additional topics include puppy mills, the ethics of keeping animals in zoos, and more. VERDICT Occasionally, this sequel veers on didactic and saccharine, but it is sure to find an audience with upper elementary children interested in reading about kids who get involved with social justice initiatives. Purchase for most elementary schools, but especially where the first book is popular.-Laura Gardner, Dartmouth Middle School, MA

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May 1, 2019
Juliet and her new friends have founded the Starry Beach Club to distract them from their problems and grant wishes to those in need. In See You on a Starry Night (2018), narrator Juliet's parents divorced and she and her sister moved with her mother to San Diego from Bakersfield, California. Juliet frets that everything back home is changing. Her best friend is starting to like coffee and dancing, and her father has started dating a woman from his work. She attempts to distract herself with new friends Carmen, who is Latinx, and Emma, who is white, like Juliet. Understanding that happiness comes by helping others, the three of them decide to work together to save the Mission Beach bookmobile. But as they develop their plan to raise money with a neighborhood art fair, Juliet realizes Carmen has secrets that can't compare to her own. Can she use her writing skills to help her new Guatemalan friend, whose mother might be deported? And can she find the courage to use her painting skills to sell artwork at the fair? A breezy read with fine pacing, the story doles out plenty of wisdom about overcoming one's fear of failure. With social activism, kindness to others, and compassion for those in need, Juliet sets a fine example of what it means to be a friend. A story that tackles immigration issues as part of a simple yet appealing plot. (Fiction. 8-12)

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