David Barclay Moore’s The Stars Beneath Our Feet Inspires Big Dreams In This Big World
First, can we just gush for a moment about the stunning cover of David Barclay Moore’s debut middle grade novel? Kikuo Johnson, who also illustrates for The New Yorker, so beautifully captures 12-year-old Wallace “Lolly” Rachpaul as he’s walking home in his Harlem neighborhood, with his eyes to the ground and his mind on the path of Legos at his feet.
The Stars Beneath Our Feet begins just after Lolly’s big brother, Jermaine, was shot and killed. Lolly is mad, and all he can think about is the last fight he and his brother had before he was murdered.
Lolly wants to move on, but that’s not easy to do when older boys in the neighborhood won’t stop hassling him or pressuring him to join the “crew” like his brother did.
Lolly wants to move on, but that’s not easy to do when older boys in the neighborhood won’t stop hassling him or pressuring him to join the “crew” like his brother did.
The only thing that makes Lolly feel better is building with Legos. For example, when he’s browsing through an architecture book from his neighbor: “And then, just after midnight, I went kinda nuts. Like, I got this go-go sort of energy.”
So, when his mother’s girlfriend, Yvonne, gives him two trash bags full of loose Legos for Christmas, he plunges right in to create a whole new world.
At school, Lolly meets a girl named Rose, who’s “different” but loves architecture, too, and together they build “the alien metropolis of Harmonee.” My favorite thing about this story is Lolly’s voice, as he confronts so many real, challenging situations, such as what it’s like to live in the projects and how unsafe it feels whenever he’s out in the streets.
As a former single mom who raised my biracial (black/white) daughter solo for a decade, starting in New York City, I really related to Lolly when he thinks about his mostly-absent father. And how refreshing to read a middle grade novel with such vivid, fun LGBTQIA characters!
There’s a hopeful lesson here about finding ways to face your sadness and anger, and maybe figure out who you want to be in life, whether this means building with Legos, or maybe writing or dancing or painting…and the unexpected twist towards the end of this novel surprised me in the best way!
The Stars Beneath Our Feet is on B&N bookshelves now.