''The Tiny Star'' is a 2019 children's picture book by
Mem Fox and illustrated by
Freya Blackwood. It is about a
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
falling to Earth, turning into a
baby, living a loving fulfilling life, dying, than returning to the
heavens as a star.
Development
According to Fox, it took her five years to write.
Publication history
* 2021, US,
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
* 2019, Australia,
Puffin Books
Reception
A reviewer for the ''
Reading Time'' wrote "''The Tiny Star'' is a valuable, uplifting and poignant story for the young to make sense of, and find comfort in, heartbreaking loss", and recommended it as a best book of the year. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' called it a "meditation".
''The Tiny Star'' has also been reviewed by ''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'', ''
Books+Publishing
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arra ...
'', and StoryLinks.
Awards
* 2020
Booksellers' Choice Children's book of the year shortlist
* 2020
Australian Book Industry Awards Children's Picture Book of the Year shortlist
* 2020
Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...
Three to Five Years shortlist
* 2020
Australian Indie Book Awards Children's shortlist
References
External links
Library holdings of ''The Tiny Star''Interview with Fox and Blackwood about the book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiny Star, The
2019 children's books
Australian picture books
Children's books about death
Picture books by Mem Fox
Puffin Books books