The Same Stuff As Stars

The Same Stuff As Stars

Juvenile fiction

"When she heard the first yelp, Angel was at the sink washing
the supper dishes. She thought the sound had come from the couple in
the upstairs apartment beginning their nightly fight. She was late
washing up, having waited supper, hoping that since it was Friday,
Verna would get home in time for the three of them to sit around the
table and eat together as a family."
Angel, narrator of Katherine Paterson's The Same Stuff as Stars,
is only eleven. You can see from the first paragraph that she has far
too much responsibility and has carried it for quite awhile. But it
hasn't burned her out. She still has visions of making her kin into
what she sees as a real family.
This would be a formidable task. Her father is in jail. Her
mother, Verna, is one of those people who probably shouldn't have been
fruitful and multiplied. Unpredictability is her modus operendi.
Angel has to carry cab fare for in case Verna just leaves her and her
little brother, Bernie, somewhere. Again. And she must protect
Bernie from Verna's anger. The children have already had two stays in
the foster care system.
Verna takes the children to what she claims will be the family's
new home, the house of her own grandmother. Grandma is as surprised
as the kids when they show up on her doorstep. Angel suspects
something is not right. She's overheard Verna telling her great
grandmother they'll be with her no more than a week.
"Something woke her up. It was pitch dark with no streetlight to
shine through the window. There was the sound of a car. No--the
sound of a pickup engine starting. Angel sat up in bed. Suddenly she
realized that the clothes in the big suitcase were all Bernie's.
Verna hadn't brought any of her own clothes. She listened until the
noise of the motor died away in the distance."
Rather than a responsible caretaker, Angel has been given
another person to be responsible for. Her frail great grandmother is
not all that good about taking care of herself. Angel has to cope with
everything from making the scanty food last to enrolling herself and
Bernie in school without making people suspicious and calling in the
authorities. Foster care might seperate them, and Angel is all Bernie
has.
But there is one bright side to her life. And if you want to
see what it is...
...read the book.
Actually read anything by Katherine Paterson. She is one of the
most important pioneers to persistently, consistently, and insistently
bring child characters from less privileged backgrounds into juvenile
literature.
Although Angel is a fictitious character, her plight is all too
real for a lot of kids. Awhile back we had an eleven-year-old
neighbor who took care of her two younger siblings and their house.
She also had to extricate her drug addict mom from the difficulties
and men she got herself into. The kids were taken into custody
shortly before the mom died of an overdose. When I saw her on the bus
in Bangor, she said "I finally get to be a kid."
On a personal note, I went back to UMaine for the first time this
year. It's gearing up for a new semester. It was nice to see
friends. Today I'm going to the Bangor Mall and environs to get
Eugene's birthday gift and a couple of things for his next week's
birthday supper and some embroidery floss I need for my cross stitch.
I may have to check out Goodwill to destress from shopping retail
stores and playing real life Frogger in the pedestrian hostile streets
surrounding the mall.
A great big shout out goes out to my future son-in-law, Brian, who
celebrated his birthday yesterday. I can't imagine anyone being more
perfect for my Amber.
Brian, you're a very good person. I'm toasting you with my coffee--
wishing you a terrific year and a long and healthy and rewarding life.
jules hathaway






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