Keeping Safe the Stars

Starred review from September 17, 2012
Choosing an unusual setting—the 1974 summer of Nixon’s resignation— O’Connor (Sparrow Road) skillfully tackles complex issues of truth and loyalty in a story filled with adventure, suspense, and family drama. Pride, Nightingale, and Baby Star, having lost their parents, are being raised by their grandfather, Old Finn, to live self-sufficiently on his farm in rural Minnesota. With Old Finn suddenly hospitalized, 13-year-old Pride struggles to keep her younger siblings fed, while maintaining their independence and hiding their grandfather’s absence from increasingly suspicious adults. The strong-minded siblings frequently clash over what is right and wrong, even as their predicament bonds them ever more strongly. Through Pride’s conflicts regarding ethical behavior, love, and survival, O’Connor brings to life the murky territory of morality. In one poignant scene, Pride empathetically watches Nixon’s resignation speech: “when he said, ‘I have always tried to do what was best for the nation’... it made me think about the lies I’d told to try to help my family. I’d say the same, I tried to do the best.” A thought-provoking page-turner. Ages 10–up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.

Starred review from September 1, 2012
Left in a Minnesota cabin when their grandfather is hospitalized with encephalitis, 13-year-old Pride and her younger siblings struggle to be self-reliant, but after a bus trip to Duluth to see him, they realize they will have to seek and accept help. When their grandfather went off to see the doctor, the orphaned Star family--Pride, Nightingale and Baby--had just become accustomed to life with reclusive Old Finn, so different from their commune in New Mexico. They knew he wouldn't want anyone to learn they were on their own. To make money for food, they sell crafts and pony rides to tourists, attracting unwanted attention. Against the backdrop of the last few days of Nixon's administration in 1974, narrator Pride compares her own need to lie to Nixon's self-justification even as Nightingale insists on honesty. Unusually, this family survival story is also a story of love between two older adults. Through letters Pride reads, readers learn that before he became a surrogate parent, her grandfather loved someone named Justine. Courageous and resourceful, the children track her down. More realistic than many children-on-their-own adventures, the resolution may strain adult credulity. Compelling character development (in adults as well as children) and authentic language fitting the setting add to the strength of this story. Family loyalty, stubbornness and love in an implausible but totally satisfying blend. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

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December 1, 2012

Gr 5-8-Pride is only 13, but when her grandpa, Old Finn, is admitted to the hospital, she is left to take care of her younger sister and brother, Nightingale and Baby. Smart and resourceful, the siblings construct a plan to maintain normalcy at all costs, earning money to buy groceries and even continuing on with their homeschooling. Soon, though, youthful gumption isn't enough. And then Old Finn is moved to a bigger hospital miles and miles away. Desperate to stay together and avoid a group home like the one they were placed in after their mother died, the children learn to face the truth, accept help from the various adults they meet along the way, and set out to find the woman who wrote Old Finn love letters. Smart kids who fend for themselves is an interesting premise, but it's hard to read the adult characters who end up watching over these youngsters; none of their motivations for wanting to help ever seem clear. While the story is filled with charm, the one-dimensional characters, 1974 setting, and slow pacing feel forced.-Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2012
Grades 5-7 Three orphaned childrenPride, Nightingale, and Babylive with their grandfather, Old Finn, in a remote cabin in Minnesota. But when he becomes seriously ill and is shipped off to a hospital in Duluth, the kids, raised to be independent and keep the outside world at bay, must stick together to prevent the state from meddling. At 13, Pride is the oldest and steps up with various money-making schemes, from selling craft souvenirs at the cabin to offering pony rides for a quarterall in an effort to procure round-trip bus tickets to Duluth. What O'Connor (Sparrow Road, 2011) has done exceedingly well here is give readers three fresh, authentic kid voices; Nightingale, the truth-abiding, nightgown-wearing future librarian, is particularly memorable. O'Connor also manages to make the credulity-straining kids-on-their-own theme mostly believable as concerned adults weave in and out of the action. Background events involving Richard Nixon's resignation set this story in the 1970s, but the suggested parallel between his lies and Pride's white lies feels somewhat far-fetched. Overall, a compelling story about what it means to love fiercely.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2013
Thirteen-year-old Pride Star and her two younger siblings are orphans living in remote Minnesota with their grandfather, Old Finn, whose radical political beliefs teach them not to trust anyone. When he's hospitalized, Pride must figure out how to care for the family--and when to ask for help. Against a richly political 1974 setting, O'Connor poignantly explores the indelible bond of siblings.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)