This Librarian's Quick Picks: The Stars Beneath Our Feet

The Stars Beneath Our Feet
by David Barclay Moore
Knopf (2017)
Realistic Fiction

What It's About:

It’s Christmas Eve in Harlem, but twelve-year-old Lolly Rachpaul and his mom aren’t celebrating. They’re still reeling from his older brother’s death in a gang-related shooting just a few months earlier.

Why You'll Love It:

• These characters are vibrantly alive, reconstituting the realness that is needed to bring diverse, complicated stories to the forefront of our shelves.
• Moore delivers a realistic and at times brutal portrait of life for young people of color who are living on the edge of poverty, while at the same time infuses the story with hope and aspiration, giving Lolly the chance to find salvation through creativity.
• The cover art. Seriously.

Who Should Read It:

Great for 6th-8th graders. Also, here's an interview with author Moore.

What Else You Should Read:

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• Into the Dangerous World by Julie Chibbaro
• Finding Mighty by Sheela Chari

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

The Ghost Writer
by John Harwood
Mariner Books, 2005
384 pages
Literary Mystery/Gothic Suspense
Library Copy

Summary in a Sentence (or two):

Haunted by his mother's mysterious death, timid, solitary Gerard Freeman lives for two things: his elusive pen pal and the secret manuscript that his mother gave her life to protect. Suspecting that something within that manuscript holds the key to his mother's refusal to return to her childhood home, Gerard sets out to unveil the mystery shrouding his family.

My Thoughts:

You know that book you have to carry with you and read as you walk around your house, bumping your shins on coffee tables? That book you can't tear your eyes away from while eating so you accidentally dump lasagna down your chin, and you don't really care? The Ghost Writer is that kind of book. I read incessantly, stopping only for work, sleep, and any other sort of thing that gets in the way of finishing a great book.

All the elements are here: This book is a creepily Gothic, cozily Victorian story within a story, including one of the most frightening scenes ever to take place in a library. It all begins when Gerard finds a ghost story written by his grandmother Viola while snooping through his mother's room. Interspersed throughout Gerard's narrative set in present time are Viola's short stories, which I found to be my favorite part of the book.

Then, I reached the ending. I won't write anything spoiler-ish here for those of you who haven't read the book, because I think you will enjoy it immensely. I just don't think Harwood quite knew how to finish the dang thing. Regardless, I can't wait to read Harwood's next one, The Seance.

~ Read for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge ~

Also Recommended:

• The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
• Grange House by Sarah Blake
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
  

Other reviews:

Musings of a Bookish Kitty 

S. Krishna's Books 

We Be Reading