Awww such a sweet story, it actually made me tear up. A family mom, dad and two teenage girls navigate their way through the holidays during a very difficult time. Their Gramps has just moved into their house while he faces late stage dementia. He has very little memory left, but does have brief moments of clarity. The two teen girls, Erika and Libby, two years apart, must deal with the situation as Erika the oldest is forced to live in the same room. The story is written from Libby’s perspective and dealing with an older sister is has become mean and irritable all the time. Erika is leaving after Christmas to a boarding school and finds herself feeling a bit lost Libby has a best friend, Oliver, who she confides all her secrets too. The one most on her mind is “why has Erika changed so much in a short amount of time.”? According to Erika, everything Libby does is meaningless and childish. All the things they did together not more than a year ago. It all comes together at the end and will make you shed a tear. The story is sweet and portrays the characters perfectly. The author has managed to accurately depict teen behavior. This is a perfect book for young readers. It’s an easy read without a lot of big words and short enough to get through quickly. I would recommend it for all readers


Thank you for allowing me to reviewChasing Stars by Meg Gaertner. #ChasingStars #NetGalley

This was a great read even tho it was written in present tense or diary form so to speak.
I enjoyed in getting to know the main character and her family.
This book has lots of family dynamics especially with dementia.
I felt the author has done a wonderful job with this subject.
I think it takes a lot of patience and willingness to offer to take care of their Grandpa. I admire them for taking that difficult step. But I call it love and respect.
Changes can be difficult. Especially for teens. I kind of felt sorry for them.
Libby is kind of spoiled but I get Where's she's coming from tho I really do.
I felt sorry for grandpa. I couldn't ever imagine having dementia. That has to be the most awful thing ever.
5 stars for this highly emotional read that will make you want to cry scream laugh all tye above that makes a family.
I was kept glued until the very end.
My thanks for a copy of this book. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was great! I really enjoyed reading about the main character and how her relationship with her sister evolves and grows!

This sweet story is a perfect gateway to more YA for a reluctant reader. I'd also have anyone read it who might be struggling with their place in the tween-to-teenager pipeline, particularly as it involves siblings and parent/grandparent adjustment and/or loss.

It took me a bit to get involved in the story Chasing Stars by Meg Gaertner. Family dynamics can be intense and stressful, especially as a teen.

The premise of the story: Growing up comes with growing pains no matter what, but for twelve-year-old Libby, the changes feel like more than she can bear. After an incident caused by his worsening dementia, Libby’s grandfather comes to live with her family. Libby’s dad quits his job to become the grandfather’s primary caretaker, while her mom picks up the financial slack by working extra shifts. Meanwhile, Libby’s older sister and ex-best friend, Erica, packs for a move to boarding school to make room in their modest family home. Libby feels like her cozy world is crashing down around her.

The story was mixed with tender moments and very heartfelt, realistic, difficult relationships and the grandfather's health decline.

Overall, it is a good story and a quick read. It's a good book for the tween age group.

#ChasingStars #NetGalley

Libby and her family are experiencing many changes. Gramps has dementia and is going to live with them, and dad will be watching him while mom works more. Erica , the older sister, is heading to boarding school soon and has to share Libby’s bedroom until then. The girls start fighting and not talking, and Libby feels alone because of all the changes. When younger Libby and Erica had a dream to chase a falling star to see where it lands, and now Erica said that’s silly. One night during a meteor shower Libby and Oliver, a friend, go out to watch it and Libby sees a yellow light on the lake. What surprise is waiting for Libby?

Libby and her sister Erica have always been close, spending lots of time together playing in the snow, watching movies, and putting together plays that they recorded. Now that Erica is in 9th grade and Libby is in 7th, things are changing. Erica has become more interested in hanging out with friends and is busy in school. When their parents make an announcement at dinner that their grandfather will be moving in with them because he has had memory issues, neither girl is particularly happy, but only Libby is surprised. It turns out that Erica is all set to attend a private boarding school, and will be leaving right after Christmas. For a while, though, the girls have to share a room, and it doesn't go particularly well. Things are particularly tense at Christmas, when the family tries to celebrate with their yearly traditions, but their father gets very upset when his father doesn't remember people in photos. Erica decides to go out with friends, and the holiday spirit is in short supply. Libby gets a little respite when she spends time with her best friend Oliver and his mothers, who have recently adopted a baby from Guatemala. Oliver and Libby even offer to babysit on New Year's Eve, but things don't go well, and Erica comes to the rescue. Libby is angry because Erica treats her like a baby. There is the added stress of her father being at home to care for the grandfather, and her mother having to pick up extra shifts. When Erica is packing, she keeps Libby out of the room, but when Erica is dropped off at the school, she leaves a video for her sister that explains her own complicated feelings, and helps to mend their relationship.
Strengths: It's easy to forget how important sibling relationships are to tweens, and Libby and Erica's fights reminded me of the toxic relationship in Figure it Out, Henri Weldon by Tanita Davis. Shifting family dynamics are always difficult, and grandparents moving in can cause a lot of stress. I enjoyed her relationship with Oliver, and how he and Erica had been friends, and he was able to still talk to her a bit. The scenes with the grandfather's struggles were very realistic. This was a very short book, and would be great for reluctant readers who want family dramas.
Weaknesses: I wish that Oliver and Libby had been competent babysitters; maybe today's 7th graders are not, but I babysat constantly at that age, with no incidents, even for a family of five with children ranging from age 2 to 10!
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who liked The Infinite Questions of Dottie Bing or
Stark-McGinnis' The Space Between Lost and Found. I didn't realize this was available only in paperback.

Thank you so much to Jolly Fish Press and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Libby’s life is changing all at once the life she was used to has gone. Her sister doesn’t talk to her anymore and when she does she’s mean, she’s already getting ready to leave for boarding school, her dad left his job to be a full time carer for her gramps who has Alzheimer’s and her mom is always at work. Everything has changed around her.

This was sad and sweet, you really feel for Libby, it’s hard enough when one big thing changes but to have to deal with so many at once was really hard on her. She really coped as best she could even though everything was so difficult. Seeing her as the story goes on, getting sadder and angrier, more confused and frustrated with the changes was so sad, she didn’t want to be struggling and didn’t want the changes but she tried her best to handle them.

I’m so glad that we got some answers near the end as to why Erica wasn’t nice to her anymore, all the stories of how a year ago they were besties but then everything changed. As I kept reading I wanted to understand why she wasn’t being nice, they seemed like they had such a good relationship and it was sad seeing it all so cracked and broken, leaving the two separated and angry with each other. I was so happy we got the answers and the ending we did get.

The storyline with her Gramps actually hit me hard as my Grandpa is going through the same thing (but he’s further into it), so seeing how her family handle it and how they were struggling and the deteriation of his mind as the story goes on. It’s such a sad thing anyone goes through and by moving him in the house to keep him safe, it changed their whole family dynamic and made it stressful for them all. Her dad had to stop work as he wanted his pops safe all the time, her mom had to take on longer shifts to pay for having him. It was all so so sad for them all, but they loved him and wanted to care do for him, even if it took its toll on the whole family.

This is a really hard hitting sad story, it’s really enjoyable read, it written beautifully seeing the story and world through Libby’s eyes as the world moves on around her, as her once easy simple innocent life becomes harder and stressful and everything isn’t correct anymore. It’s a great representation of the world, of family, of changes and dealing with them, with sacrifices and learning things about life you never knew.

Chasing Stars is part of Harbor’s Hi-Lo book range, aimed at children 10+ but written at a 7+ reading level. It follows 12 year old Libby through the growing pains of significant changes in her life.

I didn’t really enjoy this book, to me it felt like there was never ending stress in Libby’s life with very little reward or respite between instances to push me to keep reading rather than feel disheartened. The clashing between her and Erica was realistic as siblings, however I would’ve liked to see a few more moments where we would get glimpses of their friendship. Libby was constantly trying to prove how adult she was as she felt like Erica was drifting away from her childhood, and I would’ve liked to have seen some moments where it paid off, such as when babysitting. There was a range of diverse characters within this book however it feels quite forced and almost tokenistic when every character’s ethnicity or sexuality is mentioned. We could have done without the two fathers being mentioned.

Cover is cute, however I don’t like the clashing art style between the hands and the background. The version I received was an eBook ARC, and I was not a fan of how it was presented. Instead of being in a standard format as a regular book, it had two pages crammed into each page and no page breaks for new chapters. This made it quite difficult to read as it was just a giant text block on every page.

'Chasing Stars' tells the story of Libby as she copes with major family changes. Her big sister who used to always play with her wants nothing to do with her and her granddad has moved into the family home so that he can be cared for as he battles dementia.

Overall, it is a nice story and one I could imagine children enjoying - especially if they face some of the same challenges as Libby. However the length of the story means that it is a little short on character development and so you aren't maybe as invested as you might otherwise be.

3/5

I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't help but feel a little underwhelmed when I got to the last page.

"Chasing Stars" follows Libby, a 7th grader, as she deals with numerous changes in her life. Her grandfather moves in to live with her family, her sister, who was once her best friend, is drifting away from her and now is going off to boarding school and her parents have less and less time to focus on her.

The messages about change this book was trying to get across were very clear, so much so that it felt awkward, almost forced. The final reconciliation between the sisters felt very... odd, but I'll give it a pass because this is a children's book and I wouldn't put it past an awkward teen to do something like that.

I was also annoyed by the main character. At times I felt like shaking her and screaming "THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU". At times, she seems to show little to no sympathy for her grandfather who is battling dementia, and her parents who have to care for him. But again, Libby's only 13.

A valid gripe that I had was with the extremely blatant attempt at representation. Oliver (Libby's friend) and his family seem to have had all the minority representation dumped on them. Oliver has two mothers (this was mentioned a couple of times, the first time was fine, every time after that just got more awkward). The family also happens to be Indian, a fact that was brought up and then promptly forgotten about for the rest of the book. They also adopted a Guatamalan baby (I don't know why race matters here, she's a baby).

As you can see, this has me quite worked up as this occurs again, tagged on in the very last chapter in an offhand comment. I'll just quote it for you.

"A girl with frizzy hair and a suitcase stands in the doorway. Behind her are two men, who I assume are her fathers."

Was the assumption really necessary? Was it?

I was originally going to give this book 3 stars, but after getting this worked up, my rating has dropped to a 2.5. (still not a 2, though)

I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Final rating: 2.5/5