Customer Reviews

How Many Stars in the Sky?

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I requested my school librarian to purchase a book in memory of my sons grandmom. How delighted I was to read her choice and how appropriate too. While an enchanting story of how a father and son deal with a night without mom the message is also there of life, stars too numerous to count, of a world without end.

The obvious story is this: In the city, few (if any) stars can be seen. Crammed between buildings and over-lighted, city people are perhaps not even aware of the beauty of the night sky. Under the dark of the country sky, one can see more stars than can be imagined. More subtle stories will become apparent to the insightful reader.

The story starts at the family's home in a suburban setting, where the boy sees many stars from his bedroom window and goes outside to count them. On the sidewalk outside his house, he finds the stars overwhelmed by the nearby streetlight, but then sees more than he can count from his tree-house platform. Observing over a length of time he notices that some stars disappear and others appear as the sky seems to turn. To enhance the young man's fledgling astronomical observations, and to give him alternate points of reference, his dad suggests that they take a drive, first to the city where the night sky cannot even be seen due to the glare of city lighting, then out of the city and past the suburbs to a rural area where the sky is unpolluted by artificial light sources, where stars can be seen by the zillions.

The obvious theme here is that there are more stars than a person can count, if you can only see them. Subliminally, however, two themes flow beneath:

1) An observant and inquisitive young man's curiosity about his world is indulged and fostered by a perceptive and imaginative father. A learning opportunity is skillfully maximized and a bonding event occurs.

2) Far from the city, away from the distractions and conventions of humankind, one can be closer to the natural world and can better sense one's place in it.

It's a great story with deep undercurrents. The art is excellent. Get it. Read it to your kids.

When I read this book myself, I frankly thought it was a little boring, but I was happy to see the children paid attention from beginning to end. I read it to a group of seven 6 to 8-year-old boys. They appeared to be most interested in counting the stars on each page (and then arguing about the tally!) but when we talked about it afterwards, I found they really had been listening to the words. The paintings are beautiful.