A Pocketful of Stars

by Aisha Bushby

Overview

Safiya and her mother have never seen eye to eye.

Her mother doesn't understand Safiya's love of gaming, and shy Safiya doesn't think she has anything in common with her vibrant, sometimes volatile mother. But when her mother falls into a coma, Safiya's whole world shifts. She finds herself dreaming about an unfamiliar setting and a rebellious girl who's distinctly familiar...

As Safiya unlocks the secrets of these dreams the way she would unlock levels in a game, she realizes that opening her heart to the past is the key to changing her future—and that she may not be so different from her mother after all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728493848
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/2024
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	257
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Aisha Bushby was born in Bahrain to Kuwaiti-Canadian parents and has lived in Kuwait, England, and Canada. The first novel she ever worked on was a piece of fan fiction which she stayed up all night to work on when she was thirteen. She now writes magical children's books from her home in England, where she lives with her husband and two curious cats. She is the author of several children's books including A Flash of Fireflies and A Pocketful of Stars which was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Branford Boase award.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2023-06-21
A British teen tries to save her comatose mother through dreams that resemble a video game.

After her parents’ divorce when she was 9, Safiya Fisher chose to live with her English dad. Thirteen-year-old Safiya loves playing video games, but her theater-loving mother doesn’t understand or respect her interest in them, and their differences are straining their relationship. When Mum has a stroke and ends up in a coma, Safiya instantly regrets pushing her away. During hospital visits, Safiya starts falling asleep and has strange dreams, which she realizes are her mother’s memories of growing up in Kuwait. These dreams start to feel like the video games Safiya is always playing, and she becomes convinced she can help her mother wake up if only she can find a way to finish the game. As Safiya visits her mother’s childhood home through these dreams, she realizes the similarities between herself and her mother at 13. While Safiya progresses in her video game dreams, her confidence grows, and this trickles into her reality. Tragedy comes early in the novel, while Safiya’s exploration and maturation build slowly, pulling readers in as they inevitably become invested in her journey of personal development. Bushby writes with nuance and skill about a mother-daughter relationship fraught with misunderstanding, and Safiya’s eventual realizations are equal parts uplifting and heartbreaking.

A poignantly written novel that is hard to put down and even harder to forget. (discussion questions, resources) (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews