Reviews: (by author)

Shulman, Mark. Stella the Star. Illus. Vincent Nguyen. New York: Walker Publishing, 2004. $16.95. ISBN 0-8027-8894-7. 32 pp.

This is a cute book less about Stella than about Stella's parents. Stella brings home a note from her school teacher notifying her parents that Stella will be the star in her school play. Her parents are so proud of Stella and excited for her debut, they go to outrageous lengths to show their pride. They buy her a new dress and shoes, take her to a hair salon, and buy a new video camera to record the play. They buy her roses and brag to everyone they meet that their Stella is going to be the star in her school play. Through all of this, Stella is happy to make her parents proud. The point of the book is to show that by trying to show everyone their excitement for their daughter's performance, they forget one thing, Stella. They want to take Stella to a nice restaurant after the play, but Stella would rather eat ice cream in the basement with the other children. When they learn that Stella is literally a "star" in the school play, walking out to say "twinkle, twinkle" and then to walk off the stage, they laugh at their eccentricities. In the end, they tell Stella they were very proud of her performance, to which Stella replies that is exactly what she wanted, as she licks ice cream off her fingers while playing with the other children in the basement.

All parents can get carried away with the notion that their child is exceptional to all other children, sometimes raising them to a level that is no longer that which any child might actually want or aspire to be.

Recommended
Holly Boland, May 2004

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