Anishinaabe author Brittany Luby (Encounter) explores the meaning of home in her endearing picture book When the Stars Came Home, about an Indigenous boy who moves to the city with his parents. Luby's compassionate perspective is accompanied by Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan's striking images, the whole delivering a dynamic definition of a seemingly simple word.
"Home is under your hat," Ojiig's grandfather says. But Ojiig does not care about hats; he struggles to adjust to a place where people pay "more attention to the park ducks than they [do] to him." Ojiig misses fishing in the river, picking blueberries, and seeing the stars twinkle in the sky. His parents attempt to replicate the celestial bodies with a special nightlight and glow-in-the-dark stickers, but these substitutes cannot replace the real thing: "When star stickers fell, they floated to the floor. They did not blaze across the sky." Ojiig mourns his many losses until he helps his mother sew a quilt. She tells him stories as they work, and he finally begins to understand the meaning of his grandfather's words.
The pencil and digital art, which visually emphasizes the changes the boy is experiencing, complements the bittersweet nature of Ojiig's story. Donovan (Borders) juxtaposes the sharp lines, bright colors, and harsh light of the city with the soft curves and warm colors of Ojiig's memories of home. This picture book's stunning blend of art and prose is breathtaking. Readers--no matter their heritage--are sure to love the journey through the pages as much as they will enjoy discovering home at the book's conclusion. --Jen Forbus, freelancer