A second star for Erin E. Moulton's TRACING STARS, from Booklist!

Tracing Stars. By Erin E. Moulton. (Philomel 9780399256967). (STARRED)
Moulton’s (Flutter, 2011) lovely sophomore novel is set in coastal Plumtown, which, with its Main Street and quaint businesses, feels like small-town USA. Against this idyllic backdrop, readers meet spirited Indie Lee Chickory—expert fish-face maker and Pisces star wisher—who has two plans for her post-fifth grade summer: to find her lost pet golden lobster, the Lobster Monty Cola, and to become the best Chickory she can be—in other words, someone who won’t embarrass her popular older sister, Bebe. To accomplish the latter, Indie joins her sister’s theater company as a set helper to punk teenager Sloth; for the former, she builds an ocean lookout using the front and back ends of a fishing boat with the help of nerdy, nice Owen Stone. The construction efforts feel like a somewhat implausible undertaking, but the characters’ intentions—and universal kid problems—are completely authentic. Can you remain friends with a boy even though everyone tells you he is a loser? Can you stand up to your “same-blood, same-bones sister”? Can wishing on stars bring miracles? This timeless story perfectly captures the growth that summer affords kids when, after endless days and nights, they emerge truer versions of themselves. Readers won’t soon forget Miss Indie Lee Chickory.— Ann Kelley
 

Congratulations, Erin!

—Joan

Cynthia Levinson's WE'VE GOT A JOB gets a fourth star from SLJ!

Gr 7 Up–This photo-essay stands out for its engrossing content, excellent composition, and riveting use of primary-source material. Covering the history of the Birmingham Children’s March from inception to full impact, Levinson traces the stories of four young people between the ages of 9 and 15 in 1963. Audrey Hendricks, Washington Booker III, Arnetta Streeter, and James Stewart came from very different segments of the city’s black community, but all risked their lives and spent time in jail to fight for their freedom. Tracing their different routes to activism and melding it beautifully into the larger history of race relations in Birmingham and in the American South, the author creates a multidimensional picture of the times and the forces at work. Interviews with the four principals, one of whom died in 2009, give the narrative power and immediacy. Reproductions of period photos, notices, and documents provide additional insight. The map of downtown Birmingham, with locations mentioned in the text delineated, is a great help in placing both photos and text in a landscape. With a helpful list of abbreviations, excellent source notes, photo credits, a fine bibliography, and a comprehensive index, this a great research source, but it’s also just plain thought-provoking reading about a time that was both sobering and stirring. Recommended for middle and high school library collections to stand together with Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s To the Mountaintop (Roaring Brook, 2012), Ann Bausum’s Marching to the Mountaintop (National Geographic, 2012), and Larry Dane Brimner’s Black & White: The Confrontation Between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor (Boyds Mills, 2011).–Ann Welton, Helen B. Stafford Elementary, Tacoma, WA

Congratulations, Cynthia!

—Erin