Review of Hello Stars by Alena Pitts With Wynter Pitts

Hello Stars offers a unique tale about Lena, a fifth grader with an amazing opportunity to spend the summer working on a movie with one of her favorite singers. While it sounds like a perfect way to spend the summer, Lena learns a lot about herself and her relationship with God. No matter what the situation, there’s a lot of opportunity to gain a better understanding about life and what it takes to be able to pursue something you’re interested in.

From the very first sentence, Lena’s voice comes shining through. It’s written from her perspective and you can almost imagine getting a glimpse into the mind of an almost sixth grader, complete with exciting moments and disappointments. The different events that are mentioned demonstrate the highs and lows of things that take place in life and I appreciate that there were struggles that didn’t always work out perfectly in the end. It offered a sense of reality that some books often overlook. Lena learned actual lessons, some of them because of mistakes and others because of circumstances.

It was a quick read for me but I was surprised that my ten year old daughter didn’t finish the book. She’s a fast reader but just couldn’t seem to get into it. When asked, she struggled to relate to the main character a little bit. I’m guessing that’s just personal preference as she’s more into fantasy books. I plan to pass the book onto one of her friends as I think that the author really does provide a great character for this age group to enjoy and appreciate. The idea that a series of books will follow is great. As a parent, I love when the kids find a book series they can’t get enough of.

This book was provided to me by Handlebar: Direction for Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

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