The Star Maker

The Star Maker. by Lawrence Yep. (2011). 100p. New York: HarperCollins.  

Awards and Honors: none 
 
Review: 

As the youngest child growing up a large Chinese American family in San Francisco's Chinatown, eight-year-old Artie is too often the brunt of his older cousins' teasing. During a family get-together, he makes a hasty promise to his cousins to buy firecrackers for them all during the next Chinese New Year. Artie's uncle Chester, himself a black sheep in the family, sympathizes with him and offers to help him out. But when tough times fall upon Uncle Chester, Artie begins to worry that they will both break the promises that they made. The novel explores the relationship between Artie and Chester, as they both navigate the concepts of responsibility, accountability and integrity.  

Opinion:

The Star Maker is an excellent novel for young readers who are beginning to transition into more challenging material. It is nuanced and realistic, yet short and accessible. Multicultural books, while usually well-intentioned, often fall into the trap of exoticizing other cultures, but one of the strengths of this novel is that it offers a nice look into some of the traditions that are celebrated by families during the Lunar New Year, yet avoids exoticizing Chinese culture.   

Ideas:
This book lends itself perfectly to library displays for Chinese New Year.