Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by halschrieve
Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee
5.0
An amazingly sweet book that is about and for middle schoolers and younger and which centers on gay crushes and love but also on preserving friendships, understanding and empathizing with others, and getting over fears of social alienation in order to express what you want.
Everyone who read Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade or has seen West Side Story or the Leonardo DiCaprio film knows that Romeo meets Juliet for the first time at a costume ball thrown by his enemy. Similarly, this book features a scene where Mattie meets Gemma (or rather really sees her for the first time) while she is gate crashing a Halloween party that her middle school rival has explicitly not invited her to. She’s dressed like Darth Vader, and she and Gemma hang out in the kitchen for a while alone. They don’t kiss—it is middle school—but there’s a feeling of flirtation before Mattie is discovered.
While the parallels to the original Shakespeare are raised, they aren’t carried too far. Mattie’s Rosamund is her would-be crush on Elijah, a nerdy, oblivious boy from her class that she feels she has to have a crush on because they’re so similar. As the story goes on, she realizes that what she feels for Elijah was never really a great crush anyway. It happens realistically and is a non obtrusive teachable moment for young gay or lesbian or bisexual readers—or just young people who aren’t into anyone- who can be thus introduced to the idea that they may feel obligated to express heterosexual desire when they don’t really feel it.
As the story goes on, there are fewer parallels to Shakespeare and there is more development of the central romantic tension (and anxiety about it) from the main two girls. As it turns out, Gemma and Mattie don’t face insurmountable obstacles to expressing their love (which I was relieved by) and there is a satisfyingly middle-grade happy ending.
My favorite minor arc is the one where Mattie tries to mentor the kid who plays Romeo in the school play initially, who can’t learn his lines and cares more about hockey than the play their grade is putting on. Ultimately Mattie learns to respect Liam even as she despairs over his ability to act—he is smart and observant and just can’t get into the text or relate to it. Rather than implying that he’s stupid, the book allows that different people may just have different interests.
I like the characters and the way this story encourages kids to talk to their friends and to empathize with others as well as following their hearts. It isn’t sugary, but it’s a solid fuzzy feeling of a book.
Everyone who read Romeo and Juliet in ninth grade or has seen West Side Story or the Leonardo DiCaprio film knows that Romeo meets Juliet for the first time at a costume ball thrown by his enemy. Similarly, this book features a scene where Mattie meets Gemma (or rather really sees her for the first time) while she is gate crashing a Halloween party that her middle school rival has explicitly not invited her to. She’s dressed like Darth Vader, and she and Gemma hang out in the kitchen for a while alone. They don’t kiss—it is middle school—but there’s a feeling of flirtation before Mattie is discovered.
While the parallels to the original Shakespeare are raised, they aren’t carried too far. Mattie’s Rosamund is her would-be crush on Elijah, a nerdy, oblivious boy from her class that she feels she has to have a crush on because they’re so similar. As the story goes on, she realizes that what she feels for Elijah was never really a great crush anyway. It happens realistically and is a non obtrusive teachable moment for young gay or lesbian or bisexual readers—or just young people who aren’t into anyone- who can be thus introduced to the idea that they may feel obligated to express heterosexual desire when they don’t really feel it.
As the story goes on, there are fewer parallels to Shakespeare and there is more development of the central romantic tension (and anxiety about it) from the main two girls. As it turns out, Gemma and Mattie don’t face insurmountable obstacles to expressing their love (which I was relieved by) and there is a satisfyingly middle-grade happy ending.
My favorite minor arc is the one where Mattie tries to mentor the kid who plays Romeo in the school play initially, who can’t learn his lines and cares more about hockey than the play their grade is putting on. Ultimately Mattie learns to respect Liam even as she despairs over his ability to act—he is smart and observant and just can’t get into the text or relate to it. Rather than implying that he’s stupid, the book allows that different people may just have different interests.
I like the characters and the way this story encourages kids to talk to their friends and to empathize with others as well as following their hearts. It isn’t sugary, but it’s a solid fuzzy feeling of a book.