When Amina’s father is killed
by soldiers working for the country’s dictator, Amina, her mother and her two
sisters flee their home. At a checkpoint, Amina and her older sister, Jenna,
are separated from their mother and their younger sister Vivie. As they are
very worried about their safety and that of their mother and Vivie, Amina and Jenna
decide to walk to a refugee camp, hoping to be reunited with them there.
In the refugee camp, the two girls have the
good fortune to meet Cosima and her two sons, Aron and Lemo. When the sisters
agree to stay with Cosima’s family in their crude, makeshift tent, Amina and Jenna
have to adapt to living in the harsh refugee camp very quickly. While in the camp, they have to struggle for
survival every day. Filled with despair, Amina starts to let her imagination
run and she begins to tell stories about the stars. Her stories transport many
people’s minds to a wonderful starry world, taking them, just for a while, away
from the cruel reality of their lives. Amina’s stories help the people in the refugee
camp. The stories make them hopeful that there will be an end to the war and
that they will be happier one day. Will Amina and Jenna ever see their mother
and Vivie again?
Looking
at the Stars is a book that I will always remember, it
pulled at my heartstrings. All the characters are so well written, they seem
alive, and the stories that Amina weaved left me star struck.
I’m unsure as to whether there
should be a sequel to Looking at the Stars;
it’s perfect as it is. However, to learn if the sisters are able to build a new
life for themselves would be one book that I’d definitely read.
