Hello, Star

by Stephanie V W Lucianovic (Author) Vashti Harrison (Illustrator)

Hello, Star
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Stunningly illustrated by #1 New York Times bestselling artist Vashti Harrison, Hello, Star (written by Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic) is an inspiring story about a love of science and the importance of empathy.

When a young girl learns that a bright light in the sky is coming from a dying star, she promises to keep it company until the light goes out. Every night the girl reassures her friend that she is still there. As the years pass, the girl learns everything she can about planets, space, and the universe, inspired by her dimming friend--until she realizes she needs to do something more.

This touching tribute to stars, space, and science celebrates how a small act of compassion can flourish into a life full of meaning and wonder.

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$17.99

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Publishers Weekly

A sighting of a supernova in early childhood launches a Black girl into an enduring fascination with stars and space—with particular compassion for the one she first saw—in this well-paced picture book. Lucianovic emphasizes how the child’s wonder and concern evolve into a career path, as she speaks to the star throughout primary school, college, and eventually as an astronaut. Descriptive prose focuses on lyricism over transmitting information: “It could become a neutron star, made of material so heavy that a teaspoon of its shimmering, blazing star stuff would weigh as much as a mountain.” Harrison’s characteristically absorbing illustrations, rendered in colored pencil and digitally, make vivid use of chiaroscuro, offering mesmerizing, photorealistic spreads of skies and space in this narrative ideal for young astrophiles. Back matter features an author’s note. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Stephanie V W Lucianovic
Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic is the author of The End of Something Wonderful: A Practical Guide to a Backyard Funeral and the middle-grade novel The League of Picky Eaters. She has been a contributor to the New York Times Motherlode blog, The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, CNN's Eatocracy, The Atlantic Wire, and more. Stephanie lives in the Bay Area, and she invites you to visit her at stephanielucianovic.com or on Instagram and Twitter @grubreport.

Vashti Harrison is the New York Times bestselling creator of Big, which was awarded the 2024 Caldecott Medal, a Coretta Scott King Book Award Author Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor, in addition to being a National Book Award finalist. Vashti is also the #1 New York Times bestselling creator of Little Leaders, Little Dreamers, and Little Legends, and the illustrator of Lupita Nyong'o's Sulwe (for which she received a Coretta Scott King Book Award Illustrator Honor), Matthew A. Cherry's Hair Love, Andrea Beaty's I Love You Like Yellow, and Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic's Hello, Star, among others. A two-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children, Vashti lives in Brooklyn, New York, and invites you to visit her online @vashtiharrison or at vashtiharrison.com.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780316451758
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date
October 19, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039050 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emotions & Feelings
JUV029000 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | General
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
JUV036010 - Juvenile Fiction | Technology | Astronauts & Space
Library of Congress categories
Stars

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