A Bed of Stars

by Jessica Love (Author) Jessica Love (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

A tender new story from the award-winning creator of Julián Is a Mermaid celebrates first-time camping, father-child bonding, and feeling at one with the universe.

"We're going camping, you and me.""Where?" I ask."The desert," says Dad . . . "To shake hands with the universe." Going to bed each night can be dark and scary. The night sky stretches out endlessly, making one sensitive child feel small in comparison. So Dad comes up with a plan: a night of camping out in the desert. Together, the two load up Darlin', the old pickup truck, and drive over the mountain with the radio on, stopping to shoot the breeze at a junkyard before setting up camp, jumping in sand dunes, and lying back to name all the birds they can see. After sunset, when the young thinker feels tiny against the vast sky, Dad knows just what to ask--and just what to say--to soothe away fears. Maybe this night spent under the stars (and a surprise from Mom and the baby later) are just what is needed to show that the universe is a friendly place.

From acclaimed author-illustrator Jessica Love comes a story of small moments between father and child that affirms the comfort of finding one's place in the world.

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Kirkus

Under the desert night sky, Dad helps his child find cosmic comfort. . . . A lovely vision for small, sensitive existentialists.

None

Love's watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations include both factual information (the steps to build a fire) and warm, loving scenes of the father and child together. . . . The desire for one-on-one attention from a parent is one many children will relate to.

ALA/Booklist

Love (Julián Is a Mermaid, 2018) offers up a relatable, young protagonist seeking security and safety in the surrounding world. The watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations privilege evening blues and desert earth tones that are enlivened by splashes of pink and green depicting flora, sunrises and sunsets, and clothing. . . A reassuring look at our place in the universe.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

"We're going camping, you and me," Dad says one morning to the young narrator of this picture book. The two set out for the desert in the white-presenting family's pickup truck, encountering the land's beauty, captured by Love (I Love You Because I Love You) in sketchbook-style paintings and carefully observed phrases ("This is my best smell" says the child about the mountains' fragrance). In images that center the experience of having a parent's undivided attention, father and child identify flora and fauna, jump in sand dunes, and snuggle under the starry desert sky, its vastness echoed accessibly in the print of their truck-bed blanket. When the child confesses to being frightened by "how big the universe is and how it goes on forever and ever," Dad knows just what to say. Stars are made of energy, he explains, "Same as you. Same as the beetles and crows and coyotes. It's all friends and family in this universe." It's a gem of a moment, an example of the way a parent can hear and transform a child's fear. When the two return, repeating the names of "all the new friends I've met... beetles, cacti, coyotes, stars," Mom shares another surprise in this tender story about learning to approach that which feels unknown. Ages 4-8. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, Gernert Co. (Apr.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

A perfect bedtime book for the young rambler in your life who is feeling a little overwhelmed. —The TODAY Show 

At breakfast, our protagonist's father announces that they are going camping in the desert. Why? "To shake hands with the universe," says Dad. . . . It's a heavy contemplation of the very nature of being, and yet Love makes it entirely kid-friendly. A gentle specificity easily merges the conceptual with the corporeal. . . . Young listeners who tend to be more introspective than rambunctious will appreciate this soothing rumination on the nature of existence and the accepting of the unknowable. —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review) 

A desert camping trip reassures a child about their place in an immense universe in this gentle, comforting picture book. . . . Love narrates from the child's perspective in straightforward, earnest prose. . . . An earthy color palette and a soft, hazy quality to the linework and shading give the book a comforting, well-worn feel, while layered blues and purples create a majestic image of a star-studded night sky. The strongest element in A Bed of Stars is the calm, simple way in which the father makes the immense and overwhelming universe less frightening and more enchanting. . . a natural fit for bedtime or any situation that calls for reassurance. Love offers a moving reminder that learning can help us face our fears, move with confidence and find our place in the world. —BookPage 

The universe is all around us and the stars are there every night to shine for us is the message Dad seeks to share with his young child who is afraid of the dark. . . .This is a warm story about driving away bedtime fears. The soft sketches and use of colors enhance each scene and informational labels are applied during the teaching moments of the story. —School Library Connection 

[A] lovely celebration of life's wonders. —The Buffalo News 

This story by a New York-based actor and author/illustrator is one of the best of the season. . .This story would be perfect for kids who are between picture books and reading by themselves. —The Pioneer Press
Jessica Love
Jessica Love is an illustrator and a New York based actor. She has a BA in studio art from the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as a graduate degree from Juilliard.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781536212396
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Candlewick Press (MA)
Publication date
April 04, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV010000 - Juvenile Fiction | Bedtime & Dreams
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV032170 - Juvenile Fiction | Sports & Recreation | Camping & Outdoor Activities
Library of Congress categories
-

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