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A review by tcbueti
Keeping Safe the Stars by Sheila O'Connor
5.0
Terrific story of three orphaned kids trying to make it without any adult help, when their grandfather and guardian "Old Finn" falls suddenly ill. The kids' early upbringing, and his distrust of authorities, have made them all very wary of strangers--if people know they are alone, will they be sent back into the foster system that they briefly hated before Old Finn took them in?
The kids try some amusing and only partly successful attempts to make money to buy food, and then to buy bus tickets to see Old Finn, who has been moved to a bigger hospital in the city. When they see him, they realize he's much sicker than they had thought, and that they need to try plan B--Justine.
Pride had found letters Old Finn's letters from Justine, written while she was traveling in France. Although they've never heard of her, she obviously loved him, but put her off when he adopted his grand-kids. Maybe, if she really loved him, she'd want to help?
There's a lot to think about here, about family histories, trust, honesty and secrets. The characters are wonderful and vivid, even Old Finn, who is barely physically present in the story! The family dynamics, while unusual, ring very true. Reminds me a bit of Hilary McKay's terrific Casson family stories in that way. And the moral dilemma Pride suffers reminds me of Barbara O'Connor's How to Steal a Dog: She knows it's wrong but her need to survive and keep her family safe makes her feel she has no choice, and once she starts lying, it's hard to stop.
The kids try some amusing and only partly successful attempts to make money to buy food, and then to buy bus tickets to see Old Finn, who has been moved to a bigger hospital in the city. When they see him, they realize he's much sicker than they had thought, and that they need to try plan B--Justine.
Pride had found letters Old Finn's letters from Justine, written while she was traveling in France. Although they've never heard of her, she obviously loved him, but put her off when he adopted his grand-kids. Maybe, if she really loved him, she'd want to help?
There's a lot to think about here, about family histories, trust, honesty and secrets. The characters are wonderful and vivid, even Old Finn, who is barely physically present in the story! The family dynamics, while unusual, ring very true. Reminds me a bit of Hilary McKay's terrific Casson family stories in that way. And the moral dilemma Pride suffers reminds me of Barbara O'Connor's How to Steal a Dog: She knows it's wrong but her need to survive and keep her family safe makes her feel she has no choice, and once she starts lying, it's hard to stop.