Customer Reviews

Star in the Forest

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Scary topic put into a format for younger readers: Zitlally's dad is stopped for speeding and the police discovered he was an illegal immigrant so he's deported. Zitlally and her family try to make ends meet without him while worrying whether he will safely make it back to them.

This is a great story for kids to learn about a tough situation that many children go through. The addition of the dog and the friends issues make the book even more relatable to everyone. Recommended for 3rd - 6th grade.

In Star in the Forest, Laura Resau uses beautiful language and endearing characters to tell a compelling story about family, friendship and unconditional love. Resau addresses real life issues with compassion, including the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants living in the United States. This book is a must-read for youth and adults. It provides many excellent opportunities for discussion.

Zitlally is the best child narrator I have read in years. She is smart and funny, perceptive and caring, big-hearted and wise. She tells the story of an illegal family and a child caught between worlds (and languages) with more honesty and insight than you'll find anywhere else. I will give this book to my nieces and nephew. It's a great gift for children and families who aren't afraid to discuss difficult topics like immigration, class, and race, and the writing is beautiful.

I loved this book as much as my kids did. Gritty & real - and an IMPORTANT book -- a must read for anyone, but especially for those kids out there who face similar circumstances, and who will feel less alone in the world after reading about immigration and deportation . . . Thumbs up!

I teach in a very diverse school, full of a range of ethnicities. I absolutely love the way these students are able to look at each other and notice more similarities among them than differences, but finding books that represent the different groups can sometimes be challenging. I always feel like we are in need of some books featuring Latino characters and have to look hard to find some books written at the elementary level for my students.


Laura Resau has written some YA novels that I have enjoyed, but I had not read anything written for elementary students until today when I enjoyed Star in the Forest. This book is not very long, preventing students from becoming overwhelmed by it. Zitlally is an immigrant child, sharing the story of her father's deportation to Mexico. She and Crystal, her neighbor, start a friendship and find a dog, Star, in a "forest" of rusty and old cars that they need to take care of. Crystal creates outlandish stories about her own father that Zitlally is able to recognize for the tales they are, as Crystal yearns for her father to get out of prison. Zitlally's own father is trying to come back to America and her mother is working many jobs in an attempt to earn money for his return. When he is kidnapped by the coyotes her mother hires to get him across the border Zitlally and her family must come up with even more money to ensure her father's safety.

I have already ordered this one for my school library, knowing that many of my students may have their own experiences about immigrating to the United States. Resau includes information at the novel's end about the process of immigration and asks for readers to engage on an online discussion about a way for the current practices to be changed. This is definitely a thought provoking book, appealing to many readers in my school.

The `forest' is a junkyard of old cars outside of a trailer park. Eleven-year-old Zitlally often escapes to the forest to cry after her father has been deported back to Mexico. Here she befriends a neglected dog whom she names Star. Laura Resau packs a lot of content into this story for young elementary readers, including Zitlally's brief alliance with false school friends, her befriending by a quirky classmate, her family situation as undocumented immigrants, and even her father's kidnapping! What really makes a difference to the book are the poignant illustrations at the head of each chapter, which depict in loving detail characters and situations. Perhaps beginning the book with the nine-page folktale, rather than incorporating it at the end, would offer more intrigue to the reader. "A note about immigration" and a Spanish and Nahuatl glossary push the book out to 149 pages. Short sentences for young readers.

STAR IN THE FOREST is a poetic and intriguing title. Young readers will be intrigued when they find out that Star is a wonderful dog whose white fur is marked with a black star. Our 11-year-old heroine, Estrella, (Star in English) discovers the dog chained and neglected in the forest. She tries to take care of him and to eventually rescue him. Will she succeed? Young readers will HAVE to know! At the same time author Laura Resau keeps them in suspense,she introduces them to Spanish words and speaks out about the problems of illegal immigration. This excellent book would be great for summer reading and for family discussions. Don't Call Me Hefty Holly

I loved Laura Resau's What the Moon Saw and thought I'd give this book a shot too. I was very disappointed. Yes, Resau is an excellent wordsmith. Yes, her characters are believeable and understandable. My problem, then? Her message about immigrants. Once again, like so many liberals, Resau treats illegal immigrants as if they are the same as legal immigrants AND THEY'RE NOT! I cannot be sympathetic for people who choose to come to my country but refuse to follow the rules to do so. Like any other criminal, they deserve the trials and tribulations of living a life of crime. I am really sorry that their home country is not a nice plac eto live. I would love to have them immigrate here, but LEGALLY. The characters in this book visit a food bank, and an emergency room for a simple illness. They can't afford their own health care or food, but they can afford a souped up truck that they sell for over $10,000 so that the father can pay off coyotes to come (illegally) back the US again. And the book's message is that we should feel bad about this. In my opinion, this book makes the US out to be the bad guy, when the real bad guys are the people who want to live here but don't want to follow the rules to do so. Not the right message for my child. I want her to be respectful of immigrants, but ONLY of immigrants who follow their new nation's laws.