The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ekua Holmes

 

              The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer and illustrated by Ekua Holmes is a Coretta Scott King Award winning picture book about how the universe formed. Each picture explores the different steps that took place to create the universe we know and live in today. It also explores how each child is also made of stardust.

              I found this book on the official list of winners for the Coretta Scott King Award. I chose it because the illustrations looked beautiful and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The award was won for the illustrations alone, and after reading the book I can easily see why. This book also has many rave reviews, for both the art and the writing, which I think are all deserved.

              The colors of the illustrations are beautiful. Holmes chose to use darker reds, blues, and purples with hints of lighter colors like white, yellow, and orange. It’s almost mesmerizing to look at how the colors swirl together. I am no art expert, but it looked like she used the pour method with acrylic or some other type of paint, which gives the illustrations a marbled effect. The colors mesh without mixing. Sometimes pictures are formed in the marbled colors, like butterflies or the skeleton of a dinosaur.

              Because of the marbled effect of the illustrations, the lines are curved, swirling, and flowing. Movement is evident in the pictures and made me feel like I could stare at them for hours and still discover things I hadn’t noticed before. I can see children being in a trance as they look at the illustrations, pointing out things they see in the swirled paint.

              The style of Bauer’s writing is poetic and light. She uses a lot of repetition to describe the Big Bang theory. For example, on page five she writes, “And then, the beginning of the beginning of all beginnings went BANG!” There are a few words that are also made larger than the rest on the page, like bang and exploded.

              In my opinion, the best thing about this book is the illustrations. Holmes’ creativity really shines and allowed her to create gorgeous images that children will love looking at. The writing is nice too and reminded me a lot of poetry, since it was basically arranged in verse. The book does expound on a touchy subject, but the writing and illustrations are so pretty that people may not mind. I give this book four out of five stars.

Bauer, M. D., & Holmes, E. (2018, September 4). The Stuff of Stars (Illustrated). Candlewick.