Star Boy

Goble, P. ( 1990). Star Boy. Illustrated by Paul Goble. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Brief Annotation: This Native American folktale explains the story of Star Boy, a boy whose family came from the sky. It begins with a young woman who fell in love with a star- Morning Star. Morning Star takes his new bride to the sky world where she meets his parents the Sun and the Moon. She and Morning Star have a baby boy that they name Star Boy. She loves her life in the sky, but she is curious about the world below, so she breaks the rules and digs up the sky to see her family. The moon curses her and sends her and Star Boy back to earth. Star Boy also carries the curse and is scared with ugliness and a large mark on his face. But he falls in love with the chief's daughter, and she loves him too, and asks him to remove the curse so they can be married. The Star Boy makes it back into the sky world and his grandfather the Sun removes the curse. The couple are wed and the people of the earth world gives thanks to the Sky World in remembrance of Star Boy.

Genre: Picturebook

Grade Level: 2nd-5th Grade

Readers who will like this: People interested in Native American folktales and history will enjoy this book. Students who are more advanced will enjoy reading this book on their own, and it could be a great book to read during a read aloud, especially while studying history or other cultural groups.

Response/Rating (1-4):3, I enjoyed this book! The illustrations are really beautiful, and the story is clever. I am interested in history and Native American history is very unique and wonderfully told in this tale. I didn't give the book a 4 though because I did think that it was not a book that I would want to re-read over and over, but it was really good!

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “Have you ever wondered if there are people that live in the sky?”