Ray Jayawardhana

Achild “made up of stars” finds their place in the universe.

“The universe conspired to make you,” a father tells his child as they gaze out at the moon one night from the child’s bed. As the father goes on to wax poetic about his love, the art takes readers on an intergalactic journey. Nebulae, galaxies, planets, and stars populate breathtaking, high-contrast double-page spreads that feature the curly-haired, brown-skinned child out in the universe. One spread depicts a silhouette of the child while the text reads, “The iron in your blood, the calcium in your bones, / are made up of stars that lived long ago.” Another, wordless spread depicts the child at the center of a giant atom. Astrophysicist Jayawardhana’s picture-book debut effectively and eloquently affirms the importance of a single life amid the vastness of the universe—a small lesson under the blanket of parental love. Though framed by the child’s first-person narration, the story is primarily driven by the father’s monologue. Colón’s art, created in his signature scratched–colored pencil technique, revels in the details. The soft, cool tones of the Earth scenes provide a wow of a page turn as the colors explode with warmth in subsequent spreads. Gold foil stars speckle the cover. There’s hardly room—or need—for white space in a book this grand and glorious.

Out of this world. (author’s note, bibliography) (Picture book. 4-8)

-Kirkus Review… (meer)

A young girl’s father tells her she is made of stars. She lights up the world in the same way that the sun lights up the moon. Galaxies exist in her smile; like faraway planets, she is grand and marvelous and strong and mysterious. She is a part of everything; she is a child of the universe.

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This beautiful picture book pays homage to a parent’s love for his child even as it explains how everyone is connected, how everyone is part of the vastness of the universe. This is a perfect bedtime story, one to be appreciated and cherished, for both its stunning illustrations and for its wise message of love and unity.

This is one of several young reader books in this vein, but it is important to judge the book on its own merit, not in comparison to the others. There are times that the author "reaches" for a rhyme, but even Dr. Seuss missed an occasional rhyme and this "reaching" doesn't affect the flow of the story.

The focus on the treasuring of the child, of the father's obvious love for her, and the wonderful pictures make this a book to add to the child's collection of "you are star-stuff" books.

Highly recommended.… (meer)