Review Detail

You're My Little Star: With a star keepsake to celebrate and inspire

Kids Indie 252

Positive Affirmations

May 08, 2024

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

A father owl gives his child a wooden star (like the one included in the cover of the book), and tells how proud he is of all of the child's accomplishments, like sharing toys. He outlines all of the things that the star should remind them of, and how the star should give the child confidence, luck, and freedom from worry. The father ends with reassuring the child that "you are the brightest star".

Good Points

The illustrations have a cozy, chalk pastel feel to them that remind me a little of the stories I read to my own children in the 1990s, although the turquoise in the backgrounds gives this a definite 2020s feel to it. The owls are adorable, and take their wooden star along to all sorts of fun settings. The rhyme flows smoothly, and the short text is in a larger font that would be perfect for encouraging young readers to sound out the text on their own.

Ever since McBratney and Jeram's Guess How Much I Love You, there have been a lot of picture books about unconditional love and the good qualities children have; I don't really remember these from my childhood, unless you count Margaret Wise Brown's somewhat creepy Runaway Bunny! There are many more choices for Generation Alpha, including Martin's The Wonderful Things You Will Be, McGhee's Someday, and Pham's All the Things I Love About You.

Like this author's Carry My Heart With You, the wooden keepsake is sturdy, although I wonder how quickly most of these will be lost!