A Handful of Stars

Title: A Handful of Stars

 

Author: Cynthia Lord

 

Summary: It's blueberry harvesting season in Maine and Lily is helping her grandparents run their shop during the busy time. One day, Lily's blind dog, Lucky, runs away from Lily and is caught just a few fields over by a migrant blueberry harvester who is Lily's age; Salma. Salma is very nice and the two become fast friends; doing lots of things together. Lily likes Salma because Salma is invested in trying to help Lucky see again; she is one of the only ones who believes in Lily's costly plan to save his failed eyesight.

To raise the money, Lily persuades Salma to enter the Blueberry Queen pageant to try and win a monetary prize to help Lucky get what he needs. However, the idea of Salma, someone not native to Maine, participating in the pageant is not an idea easily accepted by all.

 

Comments: I loved this book. It started out slow in the first few chapters, but it did not disappoint as I got further into the book. Both girls were likeable characters. Both girls' characters were well developed, though they were not very detailed or complex - most likely in hopes that if the characters were a bit more vague in background, then the reader would be able to identify or related to them easier.

I have read some of Cynthia Lord's other works (Rules & Touch Blue) and I have enjoyed the writing in both (especially Touch Blue). Her writing always creates a clear story with characters that are easy to relate to and I love her detailing of cozy little towns such as those in Touch Blue and this book.

She is a wonderful writer, so naturally when I saw this book I knew that I had to read it!

This book is very good, however it could be more suitable for an audience that is a bit older; younger readers may not understand Lily's parents' backgrounds (both parents are dead/gone when the story takes place), and some may not understand the hard time that Salma gets for entering the pageant. However, this s a wonderful story to help them understand too.

 

Complaints: None.

 

Rating: 5 stars!