Reviews and Recognition

2013-2014 Virginia Reader’s Choice Master List

2013-2014 Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award nominee

William Allen White Award nominee (Kansas children's choice)

2012 – 2013 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Master List

Colorado Book Award Finalist

Americas Award Commended Title

Bank Street Children's Best Children's Books of the Year *Outstanding Merit*

A Capitol Choices Noteworthy Book for Children

A Grand Canyon Readers Award Nominee (Arizona)

A DCF Award Nominee (Vermont Libraries Children's Selection)

CCBC Choices List

Richie's Pick: A Best Book of 2010

Times Union Top Ten Books for Youth on Social Justice and Intercultural Understanding

School Library Journal (STARRED)

* ... Once again, Resau has woven details of immigrant life into a compelling story. The focus is on the developing friendships, both between Zitlally and her previously ignored neighbor, and between the fearful youngster and the dog. Conversations between the two girls are believable and the details of their lives convincing. The first-person narrative moves steadily as Zitlally loses and then gradually recovers her voice and gains confidence. Vignette illustrations introduce the chapters. A version of Zitlally's father's spirit animal story, a note about immigration, and glossaries of Spanish and Nahuatl words are appended. This is a well-told and deeply satisfying read."

ALA Booklist (STARRED)

* As in Francisco Jiménez's The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child (1997) and Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising (2000), Resau's novel tells a child's migration story with simple immediacy ... Always true to Zitlally's viewpoint, the unaffected writing makes clear the anguish of illegals. The thematic parallels with the dog, also an illegal of sorts, are redundant; it's the family story, more than the pet plot, that will grab readers. A pronunciation guide, a glossary, and a note about immigration from Mexico to the U.S. close this unforgettable narrative of a girl's daily struggle to find a home.

Richie's Picks

... One of the coolest things readers will take away from STAR IN THE FOREST has to do with giving someone the benefit of the doubt. I don't want to give the story away, but I'll say that the author sets it up so perfectly that when we meet a particular character far into the book, he is definitely and immediately the object of our anger. How could he do what he's done?

But then we hear his side of things and find that we are totally wrong about him. Don't you totally hate it when someone treats you that way? And isn't that how prejudice and intolerance spreads -- we make judgements before really getting to know someone -- or a group of someones, like Mexican immigrants who are in our country without proper paperwork?

I love Laura Resau's RED GLASS, which was on my Best of 2007 list. (I was delighted to see that it has since made Oprah's list for 12-and-up kids, and has been winning all sorts of state awards.) But I think Resau has done something even bigger here. I find it a much rarer discovery to come across such an important-yet-sweet book that will be embraced by third, fourth, fifth and even sixth graders, one that deals so incredibly well -- on a level appropriate for younger readers -- with issues of friendship and poverty and borders and of not making assumptions about people you don't really know.

Kirkus Reviews

Resau introduces preteens to the drama that thousands of children of immigrants face in the United States: the fear of their parents’ deportation… Zitlally’s first-person narration effectively re-creates the ingenuous voice of an 11-year-old, infused with concern for her family. A story of friendship that will speak to children of different cultures. Nahuatl and Spanish glossaries.

Children's Literature

This beautifully written story will lead to discussions among young readers and perhaps foster a better understanding of the plight of illegal Mexican workers in the United States today.