The Boy Who Ate Stars

Title: The Boy Who Ate Stars

Author: Kochka (translated by Sarah Adams)

Publisher: Simon And Schuster Books For Young Readers

http://www.simonandschuster.com/

Publication Date: 2002

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Audience: Gr. 6-8 (Young Adult)

Overview: “The Boy Who Ate Stars” follows 12 year old Lucy as she attempts to meet and become friends with all of her new neighbors, but quickly discovers an interesting family living above her and abandons the idea. Instead, she becomes a friend and helper to Marie, a single mother, and Maougo, Marie’s silent Russian nanny. Marie’s son Matthew is autistic, and Marie sees Lucy as the perfect way to help increase Matthew’s social skills. While working with Matthew every week, Lucy learns a great deal about Matthew and how he functions, and with the help of her friend Theo and a dog named Francois, they find a way for him to communicate with the world around him.

Activity: This book would work well with introducing students to concepts such as autism and other developmental or social disorders. Throughout the book, Lucy and Theo keep journals of Matthew’s activity and find ways to present the world to Matthew in a way that he can relate. Students can be asked to keep their own journals of experiences they have throughout a period of time and create their own expressions of the world through art projects. At one point, Lucy and Theo go through numerous magazines, tearing out pictures of the world and words that appeal to the senses, this can easily be duplicated in a classroom.

Reviewer’s Name: Zack Zajaczkowski