A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame [Hardcover]

Brenda Woods (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2010

If you could get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for anything at all, what would it be? This writing assignment, given out in Ms. Hart?s tenth-grade creative writing class, sparks a group of nine students each to tell his/her own story. Readers are introduced to Jake and Shante?s interracial romance, Carlos? fear of deportation, and Sunday?s determination after being sexually assaulted. These teens persevere through hardship and heartache, laughter and love, and in the end, their voices shine through inspiring journal entries that answer the question in unusual and unexpected ways. Once again, Brenda Woods shows a keen understanding of the teenage psyche, as she did in Emako Blue, winner of the 2005 IRA Children?s Choice Young Adult Fiction Award.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10 Ms. Hart, a tenth-grade English teacher and recent transplant from New York City to Los Angeles, assigns her class of nine students a writing assignment, to be completed in two weeks: If you could get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for anything that you're good at, for anything good that you've done or plan to do, what would it be for? Then in brief, alternating chapters, each character's story unfolds. Marlon is a basketball star who has something to prove to his older brother. Shante is falling for a white boy and facing pressure from family and friends. Gus is small in stature and shy until he gets to know MJ, whose extra weight has been hiding her bright mind. Dorian, the class clown, doesn't want the life his Pops modeled for him. The themes will seem familiar to most teens, but the voices are somewhat uneven with some passages naive or clichéd and others filled with invective and searing emotion. The book ends with the students' essays and leaves an impression of hopefulness that is perhaps unrealistic. Short chapters and the high school setting may make this an attractive choice for reluctant readers, but the characters and story lines are unlikely to be remembered for long. Karen Elliott, Grafton High School, WI
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From Booklist

A young, idealistic, and motivated teacher assigns her nine creative-writing students an essay about how each one is a star—although not, of course, within the entertainment industry’s defining limits. Woods then weaves together the students’ and teacher’s personal stories, concentrating on events during the two-week period between the assignment and its due date. The students are poor, urban tenth-graders who attend public school in Los Angeles; their lives represent nearly every aspect of the contemporary socioeconomic spectrum, and their stories present various coping skills and frustrations attached to each set of circumstances. Interracial dating, stepparent abuse, shyness, the threat of cancer, the reality of parental HIV, poverty—each of these and more are given due plot attention. Throughout, Woods does a better job distinguishing her many characters’ personalities than she does their voices. Much is wrapped up in little time, but as catharsis goes, this brief book offers it in many flavors. Grades 7-9. --Francisca Goldsmith

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (February 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399246835
• ISBN-13: 978-0399246838
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,130,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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