Stella by Starlight

I've loved Sharon Draper since I read Out Of My Mind, and this was just as good. I'm still trying to decide whether I'm unhappy with the ending or not. As a reader, I like happy endings, something where the world gets better in that moment and we close the book feeling like it's only going to get better from there. At the same time, that wouldn't be fair to the context, which just isn't happy. We're still working on the whole “things getting better”.
I feel like I'd be less bothered by a hopeful, but not necessarily happy, ending if there were more options for middle grade black kids that did have happy endings.

Probably the best written Draper book I've read. Really liked the genuine family and community relationships. Stella is a strong character that upper elementary and early middle grade can relate to while learning a little about history. A few too many”main character heroically saves something” situations, but that's true for any Draper book.

A quick peek into what life might have been like in the early 1900's during the time of the Great Depression and when overt racism and oppression of black people was openly accepted. Told through the eyes of a child, the book depicts how scary it all would have been to have the KKK lurking always and being a present threat to you and your family, how amazingly scary it would have been to challenge those in power to vote, and how every little action taken by a black person had so much more attached to it. It's sad to think that these ideas and concepts are still present in our society today–with white supremacists still being active being the more abhorrent and racism still existing today.

Quotes:
“Don't aim for riches, child. Aim for happiness.” -Mrs. Mills

“But you know what, the best gift of all is the laughter. We never have enough laughter...”