By Anna Desnitskaya
Published by Eerdman's Books for Young Readers
Mom's Review
A Star Shines Through is a powerful story with few words and deeply felt emotions. Communicating a mother and daughter's flight as war refugees, this moving story from Russian author Desnitskaya evokes the isolation of mother and daughter in a new city, as well as the hope they find in taking one small action to make their apartment feel more like home. While the new cardboard star lamp they build cannot replace the life they lost, it can assuage the discomfort of strange new surroundings. Readers will also notice the absence of the father in al illustrations after the outbreak of war. A Star Shines Through illuminates a hope-filled story of asylum.
Also worth noting is the power of music. The girl is shown taking her violin when she and her mother are displaced, and it is through the violin that she ultimately connects with another character at the close of the book.
Don't forgo the back matter either - you'll gain a new appreciation of the story when you read the author's experience of never going home to Russia again after the invasion of Ukraine because she was in Cyprus with her young children at the time.
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