A Path of Stars

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Overview

An affecting story of family, loss, and memory Dara loves the stories her grandmother, Lok Yeay, tells of the Cambodian countryside where she grew up—stories of family, food, and the stars above, glowing in the warm, sweet air. There are darker stories, too—stories of war and loss that Lok Yeay cannot put into words. Lok Yeay yearns to return to Cambodia to be with her brother. But when that dream becomes impossible, it's up to Dara to bring Lok Yeay back to a place of ...

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Overview

An affecting story of family, loss, and memory Dara loves the stories her grandmother, Lok Yeay, tells of the Cambodian countryside where she grew up—stories of family, food, and the stars above, glowing in the warm, sweet air. There are darker stories, too—stories of war and loss that Lok Yeay cannot put into words. Lok Yeay yearns to return to Cambodia to be with her brother. But when that dream becomes impossible, it's up to Dara to bring Lok Yeay back to a place of happiness.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Commissioned by the Maine Humanities Council, O’Brien (the Jamaica books) pens a tale about a Cambodian-American family, beginning with vibrant scenes of food and celebration, as young narrator Dara shares her grandmother’s reminiscences about life in her Asian homeland. “n Cambodia, the air is so soft and warm that the stars glow like fireflies,” says Lok Yeay. The upbeat mood changes when Lok Yeay recalls “a day the birds stopped singing, a day the soldiers came.” Grandmother’s story does not go into graphic detail, but recounts that only she, her brother, and her baby daughter survived to walk to freedom in Thailand. A star motif permeates: the siblings use stars to guide their escape, and Dara, which means star, gently leads her grandmother out of grief when the family gets news of her brother’s death. Fuzzy-edged oil illustrations add a comfortable, familial feel that softens the story’s sadder elements. However, plenty of bright images are interspersed, and the narrative ends on a hopeful note. Many themes are woven into this book, but the value of family stands above the rest. Ages 5–8. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Feb.)
Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
As Dara, our young narrator helps her grandmother cook for the Cambodian New Year celebration at their temple, Lok Yeay tells of her life back in the Cambodian countryside, and of her brother, Lok Ta, still there. Lok Yeay says they used to watch the stars with their grandparents. She also recalls the war, the flight to Thailand, and the camp they stayed in. When Lok Yeay and Dara's mother came to America, Lok Ta went back to make his home in Cambodia. A phone call reporting Lok Ta's death sends Lok Yeay into deep depression. Dara manages to bring her grandmother back from her grief. O'Brien uses oil paints and water soluble oil crayon to give a dark tone to the mixture of a fresh life in America saddened by death far away. Double-page scenes illustrate the descriptive text with naturalistic characters and settings that suggest rather than detail sharply. The sequence of events is visualized as historic incidents with an emphasis on the spiritual impact on Dara. Notes fill in information about the background of Cambodians in Maine and the Maine Humanities Council. There is also a glossary. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
Kirkus Reviews
Because of her close relationship with her grandmother, young Dara is the one who can comfort her when her only surviving brother dies in Cambodia. Dara's grandmother, Lok Yeay, tells her tales of her happy pre-war life in Cambodia, remembering childhood activities such as climbing trees, eating mangoes and stargazing from the platform in their yard. She makes Cambodian food for the family and for special meals at their Buddhist temple. Oil paintings with oil-crayon accents show the woman's memories floating in clouds over images of Dara's family and their home in Maine. The swirling lines and relatively dark palette of blacks and orange are suggestive of her longing. There is brief mention of the war and the survivors' trek to a refugee camp in Thailand, where they made an altar for the Buddha with pictures of family members who had died--just like the one Dara helps her grandmother make when her brother dies. O'Brien (After Gandhi, 2009, etc.) was commissioned by the Maine Humanities Council to create a picture book reflecting the lives of Cambodian-Americans there, but this moving depiction of the special relationship between a grandmother and a grandchild has broad appeal. The Cambodian particulars are intriguing, but the satisfaction that a child can also help a grieving adult is what readers will take away from this sympathetic story. (Picture book. 5-9)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781570917356
  • Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
  • Publication date: 2/1/2012
  • Pages: 40
  • Sales rank: 922,021
  • Age range: 4 - 8 Years
  • Lexile: 780L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 8.10 (w) x 10.10 (h) x 0.40 (d)

Meet the Author

ANNE SIBLEY O'BRIEN has illustrated more than twenty picture books, including What Will You Be, Sara Mee? and the Jamaica series by Juanita Havill. Anne has also illustrated a number of her own books, including The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea and After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance. She lives on Peaks Island, Maine. THE MAINE HUMANITIES COUNCIL is a private nonprofit organization, Maine's affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more than thirty years, MHC has used literature, history, philosophy, and the arts to provide opportunities for people to come together in conversation that crosses social, economic and cultural barriers. Visit MHC at http://mainehumanities.org.

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