Angel Morgan needs help. Daddy is in jail, and Mama has abandoned her and her little brother, leaving them with their great-grandmother. Grandma is aged and poor, and doesn't make any attempt to care for the children--that's left up to Angel, even though she is not yet twelve. The only bright spot in Angel's existence is the Star Man, a mysterious stranger who appears on clear nights and teaches her all about the stars and planets and constellations. "We're made out of the same stuff as the stars," he tells her.

Eventually, Grandma warms to the children and the three begin to cobble together a makeshift family. Then events in Angel's life take yet another downturn, and she must once again find a way to persevere.

The synopsis is incredibly misleading as to what the book actually delivers. I read this, thinking it would be about a teen with an incarcerated parent who was worried about how to keep her life together, and was interested in astronomy. The introduction to the book by the author, who works with incarcerated folk, backs this up. That is not what I got, and I was befuddled. The incarcerated father is mentioned in chapters one, seven, and twelve I think, in the edition I read. Stars and astronomy are delivered like entire pages of textbooks throughout starting in chapter five or so. This book is terribly structured. It's not about the effects of having an incarcerated parent at all! It's about her younger brother, who is in their great-grandmother's words, "spoiled like last years apples," and the great-grandmother herself. I hated them both. Angel shouldn't have had to be their mother, but she had to. The whole book SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABOUT THAT. If it was going to, change the synopsis so I could have skipped it! I have no interest in reading about the hardships of a twelve-year-old forced to raise her brat of a brother, or attempt to, because all he does is repeat words and scream when he doesn't get his sugar and UGH. The great-grandmother was utterly useless as a character. Various plot points were so implausible. The mom was realistic; I've known people with mothers like that. Everything she did was predictable and infuriating. Angel's loyalty to her was predictable and heartbreaking. I wanted Social Services to swoop in and put them in a different situation so things could change, and this is selfish to admit, but it would have made the book far more interesting. The book ends weakly, and it reads like the middle of so many chapters that have already been presented. This wasn't what I wanted, so I feel like I wasted my own time waiting for the book to be about what it said it would.. ( )

It just doesn't get much better than Katherine Paterson for a good middle grade novel. I love her stories and her writing. ( )

Narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan. Angel has had a difficult life in her 12 years. Her father is in prison, her mother is an alcoholic and Angel has had to be the adult in her family, in particular looking after her younger brother Bernie. Her mother dumps Angel and Bernie off on their frail 80-year-old Grandma. With her mother gone, Angel must handle the responsibilities of getting her and Bernie to a new school, buying groceries with Grandma's Social Security check and cooking the meals. Her saving moments are visits to Miss Liza at the library and stargazing with the tenant on Grandma's property, the "Starman."

Angel's mother has abandoned her and her little brother at her great grandmother's house. They live out in the middle of noware and Angel now has to take care of her little brother by herself and her poor great grandmother who doesn't eat anything but caned beans and caned peaches. The only store around is a store 2 miles away and she must walk there with her whining little brother and bairly any money. But in the middle of the night she meets an old man who teaches her about the stars. When the school year starts she must enrole her and her little brother on a school and sound like a grown up. Do you think she can keep it up?
I liked this book because this book tells you alot about how hard life is when your mother abandons you and how you are stranded. But i didn't like this book because some parts were a bit hard to understand. ( )