No Stars to Wish On (Zana Fraillon, A&U)

No Stars to Wish On is about seven-year-old Jack, who is taken away from his messy but loving family and placed in a cold, harsh orphanage. Despite what the nuns and the government are telling him, Jack knows his family do still want him and he has a plan to escape. But it’s after a sneaky game of peek-a-boo while cleaning the Infant’s Room windows that Jack comes up with his second great plan. Deciding he doesn’t want to become sad like the other children, Jack plans to ‘spread smiles like a disease’ by telling jokes and reminding the kids (and maybe even the nuns) how to laugh. Much like Morris Gleitzman’s ‘Once’ series, No Stars to Wish On takes a dark moment from our history—in this case the ‘stolen generation’—and looks at it through the eyes of an innocent child. In no way does the book shy away from the darker elements of what went on in some of those homes, but Jack’s hope and wonderful sense of humour see the reader through. This is an excellent, thoughtful and gentle introduction to the stolen generation for nine- to 12-year-olds.

Dani Solomon is a bookseller at Readings Carlton

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews