When I was 14 my older brother was dating a lovely girl, who also happened to be named Amy. She called for him one afternoon, but he wasn't home, and I picked up the phone. Somehow never having met Amy, she and I managed to have an hour long conversation. While her relationship with my older brother didn't last, our friendship has managed to do so through high school, college, career, marriage and children. I often find myself thinking what if I hadn't answered the phone that day or my brother had been home. It's amazing to think how some of the best happenings in our lives are completely random, and Every Soul a Star does an excellent job of reminding readers to be open to the randomness and beauty of life.
The novel alternates between the voices of three unlikely friends. Ally, short for Alpha, is an astronomy wiz who appreciates all the wonders nature has to offer. She has lived most of her life at the Moon Shadow Campground, where this summer thousands will converge to view a rare total eclipse. Bree is a prom queen wanna-be who acts kind of silly, but is a lot smarter than she would have people believe. Nature and camping are so not for her. Jack is over-weight, unpopular and kind of lazy. His only reason for being at Moon Shadow is to get out of summer school. All three have reasons to hate what has been thrown their way this summer, but as the eclipse gets closer, they come to realize that this may be the best summer they've ever had.
While using some sort of rare astronomical event as the focus of a middle grade novel isn't new, I still found Every Soul a Star to be refreshing. Mass does a wonderful job of making the voices of her characters distinct. In addition, novels structured like this can often be a bit repetitive as events are repeated from the perspective of another character, but Mass does not do this. She lets the novel flow naturally, giving the reader an opportunity to suppose what the other characters might be thinking. If I had one complaint about this novel, it would be that I would have liked to know what happens to Ally, Bree and Jack when the summer ends. I'll even go so far as to admit that I would have loved to have Jack and Ally somehow end up at the same school. Yes, I know that would have been totally sappy, but somehow after reading about a total eclipse of the sun, it just didn't seem that implausible anymore.
If you like this novel, you might also enjoy Love, Stargirl and Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli.
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