Great choice for middle school. Relatable characters, rounded, with real problems. Neighborhood feels like another character. Have purchased both this book and its audiobook.

Portrayals of grief tend to follow prescribed paths, usually centering on one of the famed stages of grief. Unsurprisingly, this book focuses on anger. What is surprising is the nature of that anger. It's non-specific, more of a general anger at the world. And the conclusion of the novel does not explicitly address that anger. We're not told how to let go of or manage anger. It's simply a fact of Lolly's reality, just as gangs and social pressure are. A subtle exploration.

Oh my goodness, this book made me FEEL so many things. I think it's so important for middle grade books to both allow the reader to see themselves in it and introduce them to parts of the world and humanity that will make them a better person. This book does both.
Oh, Lolly. I wanted to hug him through the whole book ... but he didn't need me to, and that was part of his greatness. He navigated his trials and came out way better than I would have in his position.
The way the author balances tough topics with things a lot of kids can relate to as an escape (like Legos) was a brilliant touch.
Moore constructed his plot and paced it in a way so the reader worked through the pages the way Lolly built his creations. The dialogue was realistic and the bits of humor in the heaviness of the subject-matter was well-done.
Definitely one I'd recommend to the middle grade readers I know.

See my review on The Hub:

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2017/12/04/qp2018-nominees-round-fiction/

This book was not was not what I expected but in a pleasant way. It was marvelous. I devoured this book! The plot is soul gripping and the characters are quite lively. The book as a whole is at vivid look into the choices one can make and still be undamaged. Choices like right and wrong. Then there is the wide gray.
For my full review please go here: https://aurorabattysbooks.wordpress.com/2017/11/24/the-stars-beneath-our-feet/

A strong, rather mature story for sophisticated middle grade readers. I'd almost want to make it YA, except the main character is on the young side for that. Lolly has been through some very tough times in his young life, growing up in the Projects in New York, dealing with his brother being shot, trying to avoid being sucked into gang life, living on limited income. He finds an outlet through the after school program at his community center, and the chance to work with his passion, creating fantastic landscapes out of Legos. There are an awful lot of issues raised in this book, from gangs and shootings, to dealing with discrimination, to autism, depression, grief, and more. I felt like the book tried to take on a little too much for one middle grade novel, but it's a very good effort.

I think that this book will be a big hit with kids from all different type of backgrounds. It can also be used in the classroom to discuss topics such as grief, violence, autism, friendship, and more! There are so many topics covered and none of them seemed forced in any way. The characters came alive to me right from the start!

I did not finish this book - after reading about 30% I was convinced that it really is too mature for my particular readership.

Wallace Rachpaul--his friends call him Lolly--has always loved Legos. After his brother is shot dead in the street by a rival gang the Legos become an escape of sorts, allowing him to create a world under his control.

His mother has him enrolled in a community center program, and he finds that creating his imaginary city in Legos alongside an unconventional new friend is far better therapy than talking to Mr. Ali about how he feels. It gives him the strength he needs when the choice to seek revenge for his brother's death or build the future he so desperately wants stands before him.

A touching book about having to grow up far too fast, and the realities that inner city youth are confronted with. Lolly fights to develop coping skills and learns that being different isn't a bad thing when he takes the time to get to know an autistic girl who starts building with him at the community center.

Beautiful, and would appeal to readers young and old alike.

For a more in-depth review watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQyuQUEE4k4&feature=youtu.be

I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lolly's oder brother Jermaine recently died leaving Lolly in state of confusion and depression. However, Lolly begins to come to terms with his brother's death through his connection with Rose, an autistic girl at his after school program, and his elaborate Lego creations.

I had a very mixed reaction to this book. The character of Lolly was wonderfully created and felt very real. He struggle and journey to move past the changes in his family were well done. However, the story did quite flow for me and I struggled to get through the book.

The Stars Beneath Our Feet

by David Barclay Moore

Random House Children's

Knopf Books for Young Readers
Children's Fiction

Pub Date 19 Sep 2017

I am reviewing a copy of The Stars Beneath Our Feet through Random House Children/Knopf Book for Young Readers and Netgalley:

Christmas Eve in Harlem but Lolly Rachpaul and his Mother will not be celebrating. Just a few months earlier Lolly's older brother was killed in a gang related shooting. But Lolly's Mother's girlfriend gives him an enormous bag full of lego's Lolly loves lego's.

Lolly often feels pressured to join a crew like his brother did, but after loosing his brother he has no interest in that lifestyle. After Lolly and his friend are beaten and robbed he feels that may be his safest choice. But building a lego's city offers Lolly the escape he needs.

This book deals with the subject of grief, and gang violence in a clear cut way. Lolly is a character you quickly grow to like.

I give The Stars Beneath Our Feet five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

E ARC from Edelweiss Above the Treeline

Wallace (Lolly) Rauchpaul lives with his mother and her girlfriend Yvonne in the St. Nick projects in Harlem; his father visits infrequently but does occasionally stop by. The family is struggling with the fairly recent shooting death of Lolly's older brother Jermaine as Christmas approaches. Lolly is especially affected, since he is approached by gangs in the neighborhood for various reasons, but wants nothing to do with them. His best friend, Vega, is also struggling with his relationship to the gangs, especially after his cousin is shot. Lolly is fortunate that he has a community center to attend, and he finds a mentor in Mr. Ali. Lolly loves to build things with Legos, and always follows the blueprints like a good architect should, but he finally decides to put all of the Legos together and build one enormous building. He is aided in this endeavor by bags of Lego bricks that would have been thrown away if Yvonne, who works at Tuttle's toy shop, didn't bring them home. The sculpture eventually starts to take over the apartment, and he gets permission to build in the community center. At the center, he starts to talk more to Rose, who is "different" but enjoys architecture as much as Lolly does. The two work together, and Lolly learns to appreciate her differences. When the sculpture comes to the attention of the news media, there are both good and bad consequences, and Lolly continues his journey of healing and of making his own way in his Harlem neighborhood.
Strengths: This was an #ownvoices story that doesn't shy away from the harsher realities of living in the projects in Harlem, but doesn't resort to stereotypical characters. There should be a lot more books that involve children who are interested in building with Legos! The book includes a wide but not unrealistic range of diversity, with Lolly's mother, Rose, and Vega. The book is descriptive without being slow paced, and the plot and character development are entertaining.
Weaknesses: There is a significant amount of negative language in the book. People make fun of Rose because she is large and does not relate well to people (at the end of the book she is diagnosed as being on the Autism spectrum); there is a discussion of whether a girl has a "fat booty" and other instances of commenting on people's bodies; references to gay friends as "limp wrist", and several conversational uses of the term "nigga".
What I really think: As a white, middle class, suburban female, I do not feel qualified to tell whether or not the language in this book is appropriate. There is a lot of controversy even among the African-American community about the use of any form of the word "nigger". (http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/06/219737467/who-can-use-the-n-word-thats-the-wrong-question) Looking at the book from my point of privilege, many of the interactions seem mean, but I will await the thoughts of others who have more of a right to opine. However, based on conversations with African American parents about books during several Black History Month assignments, I think that this book could offend children and their parents at my school, so I am reluctant to buy it. If I see positive reviews by #ownvoices writers that offer explanations for this language, I may change my mind.

12-year-old Wallace (“Lolly”) Rachpaul lives in St. Nicholas Houses, a public housing project in Central Harlem, New York City. He lives alone with his Ma; she and Lolly’s dad split after his Ma decided she preferred women, and she has been with her girlfriend Yvonne for a long time. Lolly had an older brother Jermaine, but he got caught up in gangs and drugs and was shot and killed the previous Halloween. Lolly has still not dealt with the pain and guilt over Jermaine’s death.

To help Lolly cope, Yvonne started bringing home great big bags full of Legos she said Tuttle’s, the store where she works, was throwing out. She brings more and more, and Lolly started to build a castle. It got too big for their apartment, so he began it again in a storeroom at the community center where he spent after-school.

Lolly loves Legos - every day he adds on to his castle he names “The House of Moneekrom.” He dreams up a whole fantasy world around it, eventually even developing it into a game his after-school mates can play. The storeroom is a refuge for Lolly - not only from his pent-in feelings, but from the predatory world outside on the streets, where he and his friend Vega must constantly dodging rival gangs, bullies, and attempts to recruit them to “crews.” They sympathize with a local coyote they see on the streets: “Our coyote was part of a species in danger. Hunted down and shot up. We knew how it felt.”

But then the social worker, Mr. Ali, lets another classmate in to use the Lego’s also, much to Lolly’s distaste. Rose is on the autism spectrum, and is suffering from a loss in her own family. At first Lolly is loathe to share with her, but he becomes impressed with Rose and her skills. They come to an understanding and in time even to collaboration and friendship.

When a new fitness program decides to move into the center, Rose and Lolly were told to tear down their cities. They were upset, but displayed parts of their pieces at a community fair, and pictures of it went viral on social media. Lolly got lots of compliments on his art, which made him happy. He took some of the rest of the dismantled Legos and donated them to kids in the projects. But then he and his mom found it Yvonne had stolen the Legos; she was desperately trying to help him get over Jermaine.

Lolly finally talks about the fight he had with Jermaine before Jermaine got shot. Jermaine wanted him to join his crew, and Lolly said no, but still felt guilty about “letting him down.” But when the thing happened with Yvonne and the police, he saw it would have killed his mother. And he learned to use his head and his imagination. He told Yvonne he didn’t hate her for what she did; it helped save him. But mostly, his friendship with Rose and what they went through together did the most for him:

“All those talks I had had with Mr. Ali had been good. They had helped me, I guess. but what me and Rose had gone through together over the past few months had been the main cure for me. She had helped heal me the most. That and wanting to do right for my mother.”

He decides he is not Lolly anymore; he is Wallace. He muses:

“The folks you hang out with can raise you up or bring you down low. Over time, they can make you think a certain way - change who you really are. Jermaine didn’t realize that, I guess. Or didn’t remember it when he needed to. Since then I had learned the most important thing: the decisions you make can become your life. Your choices are you.”

Evaluation: This is a warm and affecting story about how a young boy and his family learn to cope with the pain and loss of losing a family member to gang violence. The outcome isn't always certain as Lolly struggles with outlets for his anger. Lolly isn’t perfect, but it’s hard not to love him anyway, and Rose makes the perfect foil.

A memorable debut novel from an author with tons of promise: from page one, Moore pulls readers into the world of Lolly and his vibrant, passionate, extended family. Struggling to cope after the death of his beloved older brother, Lolly is faced with a number of choices that, even at the tender age of 12 years old, will likely determine his future. Can he avoid getting caught up in the street gang culture that led to his brother’s tragic death? He’s still very much a kid, with a head full of dreams and creativity but forced to make some very adult decisions. Setting and characterization are this novel’s star qualities: readers feel, hear and smell the gritty New York City setting. Characters are unique yet authentic and dialog crackles with humor and honesty. Pacing is leisurely but allows reader time inside Lolly’s thoughts as he comes to decisions about his future. A hopeful, heartfelt, empowering read.