Rules For Stealing Stars By Corey Ann Haydu

Books shape people into brilliant and creative members of society. These books need to be exposed to children at a young age so they can grow and develop over the years. The story that should be included in the Little Free Library is Rules For Stealing Stars by Corey Ann Haydu. The book is about a young girl named Silly and her three older sisters working together to help their mother out of her depression and sickness with the help of magic. Silly, short for Priscilla, has always felt out while her sisters have share a secret. She soon finds out what that secret is: the ability to turn artwork into a magical wonderland in their closets. As she is introduced into these new worlds, she discovers the secrets to their mom’s past, Silly’s powers

Throughout the book, Silly demonstrates three heroic traits: compassion, bravery, and persistence. The first one, compassion, is important when the hero is helping someone who isn’t emotionally stable. Silly does this well when she thinks that “I guess I sort of deserve this, from looking away when it happened to my sisters. We’re all in it alone. I have to stay strong. No part of me wants to touch her, but I stay next to her and look to make sure her hand’s not bleeding or anything (Haydu 132). In this passage, Silly is actually being compassionate. It might sound like she is an awful person for not hugging her mom and asking is she is okay, but Silly’s mom is very strange and is suffering from many things like depression and alcoholism. She is caring for her mom in a different way. Another heroic trait that Silly portrays is bravery. In this passage, Silly is being brave. She is scared but she does what she has to do to save her sister from being lost in a closet: “I let us out. I’m still scared. I'm overwhelmed by the fast swallowing and all the warmth that is now both inside and in my hands, my pockets, slipping into my shoes. But it feels good to turn the knob and get a smile from Eleanor and a hip bump from Astrid” (Haydu 301). The last heroic trait she displays very well is persistence. As much as she would love to do something else and forget this whole thing,

This books deals with multiple problems people face in society like depression and alcoholism. That is what makes this book a “good” book. It takes world issues and turns it into a fairytale. In the article “What Makes a Children's Book Good?”, its says that “...there has been a broad resurgence of the idea that children’s books should be ‘socially conscious,’ which isn’t that far from morally instructive. Vast numbers of children’s books these days are somehow ‘timely’ and ‘relevant,’ taking on issues like discrimination or animal cruelty” (Gidwitz). A passage from this books deals with a thing that all kids deal with which is parents fighting. Silly’s view on this is that “Mom starts yelling at Dad almost right away, and I should be relieved that he directed her away from me, but I don’t want her yelling at anyone” (Haydu 24). It is a tough topic for some kids and this help them relate to the character so they don’t feel alone. In an article called “Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy”, the editor said that “This genre prompts the reader to imagine the characters’ introspective dialogues. This psychological awareness carries over into the real world, which is full of complicated individuals whose inner lives are usually difficult to fathom” (Chiaet). Rules for stealing Stars addresses important issues that people face daily with a small amount of