The Same Stuff As Stars

"Paterson writes about damaged children. I had an unusual childhood, shall we say, so perhaps those kind of stories particularly resonate with me. There’s a line in the introduction where she says, “No child makes it without at least one caring adult in his or her life.” And that’s the theme that runs through at least a couple of her books — how children who are let down by other adults are often rescued by one or two caring adults. I teach young people, and I see the damage that is done to them when they’re not cared for. And that’s what this book is about, really. “Just as we believe it’s our cultural entitlement for all children to learn about Shakespeare, I think it is our cultural entitlement to learn about science” Yes, it’s got some science in it. The title is based on the scientific fact that the elements of which we are made will have been formed in a dying star. And that’s kind of mind-blowing to a lot of people. It is to me. But then again, if all you’re doing is saying, ‘Here’s a big thought, you’re made of the same stuff as stars,’ well that’s cheap, it’s easy inspiration. But you take that thought and put it into a human story, and it’s powerful. Paterson writes very well about what it’s like to be a child in trouble. A child who, perhaps, has too many responsibilities thrust upon them at a young age. A child that has to take care of a younger sibling, a child whose parents desert them. I didn’t really have any adults taking care of me after the age of 13, and I was responsible for taking care of my siblings. And her writing strikes me as completely authentic. This may be a fictional story, but the depiction of parental neglect and poverty and feeling alone and so forth, to me it feels very real. Also, as I commented before, like all good children’s books, it does end on a hopeful note."