Thank you to NetGalley, Sasquatch Books, and Little Bigfoot for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was AMAZING!!!! I did not read the synopsis before reading this book because I wanted the plot to be a surprise and I was immediately blown away. I did not relate the lion at first to a Zodiac sign and as the characters are going on their adventure I did not realize that all of the other characters that they encountered also represented the rest of the Zodiac signs. I also think that the art style was beautiful.

I highly recommend this book for people of all ages!

A home under the stars is about a little boy who is sad after moving. The story validates his feelings and also helps him overcome his fears. It is a very cute bookbwith a poignant message for children who are struggling with a big move. I also really enjoyed the astrology aspect with the animal friends that Toby met on his journey.

First of all, this book is gorgeous! It's also a beautiful story about dealing with change and making your own maguc. Bonus: A great astronomy starter for the toddlers in your life and perfect for bedtime!

This is a great story for any child or family going through a change. The illustrations and the message were engaging throughout the whole story.

This book is immensely clever! Toby has moved the city. He didn’t want to, but he had no choice. The thing he hates the most is that he can not see the stars. And one night when he can not sleep a lion comes to his room asking for help finding the north star. They explore the city and pick up other animals along the way. This is where cleverness comes in. It dawned on me half way through that they were picking up the animals from the zodiac and helping them find their way back home. It was so well done. Kudos to the illustrator for all the Easter eggs that I originally missed like Toby’s shadow being a dragon. This book was excellent! I hope it makes the official rounds for the Caldecott.

I read this book to a group of mixed aged kids ranging from TK (aged 4) to 2nd (age 7) and got really positive feedback. The children loved the illustrations. They noticed the shadowed lion in the pictures after reading the story and pointed out that they could see the starry patterns in the rest of the animals. I have a good percentage of military students so even the younger ones had some idea about the north star but all ages enjoyed the story. It would make a great book to start or use for a science lesson in Astronomy.

This story actually reminds me a of a modern telling of a Maurice Sendak tale, with elements of real life and big feelings wrapped into a story with fantastical elements and beautiful illustrations. With so many earlier picture books focused on contemporary stories these days, it was nice to see a story that twists both genres together to create something imaginative and wonderful. I also appreciated the diverse representation, including a family with 2 moms, in a story that was life, not just about family. I highly recommend adding to any young child's library.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

A Home Under the Stars is a beautifully illustrated children's book about life changes and how they can be a positive thing even if they seem scary.
Toby has moved with his parents to a built up city and is struggling with the change. He can't see the night Stars he so loves due to the city being so built up. That evening he meets a lion who is looking for the North Star. Toby joins him and finds all different animals in the city that are sad too.
I loved how the author incorporated that each animal was a star constellation at the end and how each animal also represented how Toby felt - fear, small, strange etc.
This is such a clever and beautiful book and well worth the read!

Free ARC from NetGalley.

A Home Under the Stars is about moving to a new place and finding all the new noises and shadows scary. Toby moves from the countryside to the city, and the silent and dark countryside gets replaced by a loud and bright city. He can't even see his beloved stars anymore, due to light pollution.

This book has gorgeous illustrations, and mix reality with fantasy in s great way - just like children does every day. I think this would be a great book for a child that has to move.

#AHomeUndertheStars #NetGalley

A young boy named Toby and his parents have just moved to an apartment in the city, far away from the relative tranquility of their former home. Already melancholy, Toby becomes even more despondent when he realizes his beloved stars are obscured by light pollution. Unable to sleep, and angry despite his parents’ efforts to recreate the sky in their apartment, Toby leaps at the chance to help a mysterious flying lion find the North Star. Along the way, Toby and his companion discover more than they expect and Toby gains a new perspective on his own situation.

This lovely picture book is accessible to a wide range of readers. Written in short sentences with a limited number of words on each page, young children will be able to easily follow the story while greatly enjoying the accompanying visuals. However, the plot is nuanced and complex enough to resonate with older readers as well, especially those who have recently moved to a new home.

Dreamlike illustrations bring Toby’s world to life, using a blue-gray background as the foundation of nearly every page. A limited selection of pastel colors accent the pictures, providing a dynamic and memorable tableau against which the words are placed. Within each image, visual clues aid in the storytelling for those who choose to pay attention to the detailed additions. Featuring two female parents, protagonists with tanned skin, and a plethora of additional characters, this story uses the illustrations to tell much more than the words themselves can do.

Especially suited to a lap read, this story is one that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers. Through the lens of a whimsical dreamscape, young readers discover the beauty of constellations while embracing the challenges that come with moving to a new place. This is a delightful addition to library collections for young children.

This was a very sweet book of a boy that moved to new town and is struggling to feel comfortable. Soon he finds several animals that feel like he do. They need help.

I loved this picture book so much! It has everything that I love to see in a story— from the beautiful illustrations to the magic and the adventure we take throughout the pages. The message in here also just warmed my heart, it’s such a great way to teach kids about change and how it can be good even when everything so different seems so scary and new.

Definitely recommend this one! Especially if your child is having to go through a change of some sort. This book has such a comforting feel to it.

5/5⭐️

This book is a mix of realistic fiction and fantasy. Readers will find emotions such as anxiety and lack of a sense of belonging being addressed - these emotions are so common these days in children. On the other hand, the lion in the mysterious jungle and the lost animal create an aura of fantasy. A nice pleasant read - and the importance for belonging lingers on long after the last page is turned.

This beautiful book. I'm almost certain Andy Chou Musser has written a masterpiece. Can I shout about how much I love this story from my rooftop, or is that over the top?

This is the story of Toby, a young child who moves to a large, loud, bustling city from a home that presumably in the countryside. Everything about his new home feels uncomfortable and different to him, and he misses his old home, including, most importantly, stargazing out his bedroom window at nighttime. Toby's parents (Toby has two moms, and I love that the author uses the gender-neutral term "parents" to describe them!) try to help him feel more at home by creating paper stars to hang in his window, but the distressed child is very unhappy with his solution. Toby then uses his imagination to journey across the city with other newcomers to the area in search of the north star. As an added bonus, the end of the story includes a brief introduction to several constellations that are visible in the night sky that I know my little stargazer will love. This story is so sweet, and I think many small children will relate to Toby's feelings of hopelessness and despair when things change.

The illustrations, created using gouache paint, colored pencils, watercolor paper, and a bit of "digital magic," are sublime. They feature bold colors and dynamic characters, and really help bring the story and the main character's feelings to life.

All around, just a brilliant book that I'm so excited to add to our shelf this fall.

This book was so adorable. I think my favourite thing about it were the color palette and the artwork itself.
The storyline is pretty straightforward, cute but still with a meaning and something to learn/take away from it. I liked that it was inclusive and introduced a very realistic event through which kids might have to go through. I also adored that all the animals encountered were actual constellations and through that this book may become a starting point about the space, planets, stars etc.
There were a couple of things missing though. Nothing major, but I would add a bit more text on pages such as the one where Toby extracts the star from the Dragons mouth, or where he fixes the stars he ripped (as a sort of apology, so kids know to apologize when they do something wrong).

All in all this was a pretty solid book that I would purchase for the kindergarten.

I received an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Such beautiful artwork and a creative story combine for this cute story about finding that feeling of home, and overcoming negative feelings. I absolutely loved it.

Thanks NetGalley

It's a cute Story about a boy in his new home in the city. He miss the north star in the sky, because he can't see the star in the big city. He can't sleep and one night he find a lost lion inside his closet. With the lion together they search the star and find more lost animals. It is a cute story for helping to accepte a new situation for children. The cover and illustrations inside are wonderfull.

A Home Under the Stars is a sweet and thoughtful picture book on the anxiety children feel about leaving the known world of their existence to a new world. It is gorgeously illustrated with bright colourful pictures. You can see the fear on the child's face, but equally the joy too. It is a good choice for showing families where there are two mums, so it is also great for inclusivity. The scary monster thoughts are done with considered care and thought. Sometimes, sharing our fears and feelings helps others too. A lovely book.

This book was adorable. The illustrations were my favorite part! I wish the story focused a little more on getting comfortable in a new city as that is something our family might be dealing with soon, but I loved it otherwise! Very whimsical.

The illustrations in this book are gorgeous. I've read it a couple of extra times just to pick out the details. The story is a good one about the fears that come with big changes, particularly moving to a new place. It may also spark some interest in the constellations!