TRIGGER WARNING FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ENDING IN DEATH. I was not the intended audience for this book. This is a children's book, and one intended to give hope to kids in foster care due to domestic violence. There is incredible value in that, and I hope more are written. It is heartbreaking and infuriating that they even need to be. The book showed how social services talk to kids in ways that never occurred to me. "What kinds of games did your parents play?" "The get home at four pm game (so my mom doesn't get hit)." Several references are made from Aniya's perspective to her dad getting mad and moving furniture. It wasn't until near the end that I realized this was actually the dad physically throwing the mom around out of sight, but not hearing, of the kids. The mom's death is described so oddly that, had I not read the information in the beginning of the book, I wouldn't have figured it out. Maybe this is all true to how young kids think and process upsetting things. I feel like I shouldn't question it, but it was annoying as a reader. Possibly my annoyance is just as someone who's never around kids.

The foster home is the setting. How they got there is strictly backstory with occasional references. The evil foster sister was well and truly evil! The foster mom seemed like an overly permissive weirdo in some cases, and totally oblivious in others. But good for the kids, mostly, just--flawed. I didn't really like reading about them, but I understood why they were there. It could've been worse. So I move onto the actual plot of the story. This is a children's book that mentions a lot of serious topics. The book could have examined those in-depth. Instead, sixty-five percent of the story is about Aniya's extended bicycle and bus trip from Wherever to London. The author says it's so Aniya can race to the physical offices of a place that names stars. Greenwich is a plot point. Aniya wants to name a star in her mother's memory. THAT SHOULD BE, AND COULD EASILY BE, A DIFFERENT BOOK ENTIRELY. And it's BORING. The ending had me gagging at the severe cliche. I felt like there was never really space (no pun intended) for Aniya to grieve her mom or examine her feelings about her murderer because Woohoo Let's Go on A Bike Trip. Aniya's non-evil foster brothers were written as weird just to be quirky, and came close to giving me the creeps, if that makes sense. Noah had no real reason to be in the book. Everyone except Aniya was poorly characterized. I was annoyed.

What a freakin' waste. I hope books that handle domestic violence and foster care more respectfully and in-depth are published and get attention. ( )

Ten-year-old Aniyah and her little brother Noah wind up in a foster home with Mrs. Iwuchukwu, her adopted daughter Sophie, and foster brothers Ben and Travis, after Aniyah and Noah's dad kill their mum. Aniyah, Noah, Ben, and Travis are all the victims of domestic abuse, but Aniyah doesn't fully remember the last day with her mum; she believes that the noise that she heard was her mum's heart turning into a star. When a new star is reported on TV - a star that's moving - Aniyah knows it's her mum, watching over her and Noah, and when a competition is announced to name the star, she knows she has to make sure it has the right name. But simply sending an entry through the website won't do - Aniyah is determined to go to the Royal Observatory itself and speak to the astronomers ("star hunters") there. Thus begins a desperate mission, as Aniyah realizes that she's no longer in London, but outside Oxford - but she has unexpected allies in Ben and Travis, who help plan the mission and insist on accompanying her. Aniyah's absolute determination, and her foster brothers' loyalty and commitment, see them all through to a stellar ending.

Back matter includes a key to the constellations that begin each chapter, an author's note, resources for survivors, and acknowledgments.

Quotes

If I told them the truth, then Ben and Travis might think I was lying or being silly, because that's what people think when they don't want to believe you about something, even when it's true. (36)

"Why are you both helping me so much?" ...
"Because we're foster kids, and foster kids stick together no matter what." (Aniyah and Ben, 102)

[Ben and Travis] had helped me in ways that nobody else had ever helped me before - even though they knew it might get them into trouble. (193) ( )