I dislike reviews that summarize stories because most of the fun of reading a story for me is the unraveling. It's like unwrapping a gift. No point in wrapping it if you're going to tell me what's inside before I get there myself. So I'll just say that while I'd like to have seen more issues resolved by the end of this story, I quite enjoyed it. ( )

children's fiction (4th-6th grades) picked this up off the 'new books' shelf at the library on a whim--this is the most heartbreaking story about a 10-year-old I've read in a while. ( )

This book was sent to me through the first reads Goodreads contest. I didn't know I had won It until it arrived at my front door. I was so excited.
Star Mackie is in 5th. A new student at her school she desperately wants a friend and decides to start a club to surround herself with people. Challenges come her way and she over comes them in her unsure ways.

I find the characters in this book to be believable even through I feel Star's sister could've had a little deeper role in the story. I needed to remind myself this was a children's book and so it couldn't go too deep.

Ms. Herrera has done a fine job on her first novel.
This is a good read for girls who feel they are all alone. Star will show them there is always hope. ( )

What goes wrong what can we learn.

Star Mackie has every reason in the world to give up. She lives with her mother and sister Winter in a pinkish trailer with a plastic flamingo glued to the top. She has never met her father or even received a card from him. She starts an Emily Dickinson Poetry Club to meet friends in her new school. In her weeks of assigned vocabulary sentences (which she completes, throws away and accepts school detention rather than turn in) we discover an honest, interesting, humorous girl who chooses acceptance, hope, and a few dreams even when the world seems stacked against her. Written for tweens, this is an uplifting story that will appeal to all readers.

Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

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