A review by duck_teeth
The Star Shepherd by MarcyKate Connolly, Dan Haring

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

From shadow monsters to pirates to robots, this book singlehandedly cured my childhood. Kyro is emotionally neglected by his father after the death of his mother. Everyone in town hates him despite the fact that he's a literal twelve-year-old. It's really quite silly, although entirely emotional where it needs to be. 

As someone who's also experienced emotional neglect, it really resonated with me. Sometimes parents will bleed themselves dry and they still won't have anything to show for it. They may try their very best, but sometimes their best will just be getting out of bed in the morning.

Sometimes their best will be staring at telescopes all day. Sometimes their best will be going on a journey to fix the stars because they can't imagine a world where something they love so much disappears. Sometimes their best is leaving their kids alone in the world because in their efforts to be better they've somehow become worse.

Sometimes neglect is normalized out of an understanding of depression, which isn't something I would necessarily argue against, but that doesn't mean that loneliness is not a terribly heartbreaking thing for a child to let loose inside their mind; for a child to know and understand and accept as though there is no feeling more familiar.

Maybe it hit me a little too hard for a children's book. 

Overall, it's a good book with a fascinating story. While it certainly has its flaws, it was much too important a world at much too important a time for me to give it any less than five stars.