Stella is the heroine in Sharon Draper's newest book Stella by Starlight. Late one night, Stella and her brother see a cross burning across the lake and they notify everyone in their small town of Bumblebee, North Carolina. The cross burning means only one thing, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is once again active in the town, and this makes all of the residents of Bumblebee nervous. It is a presidential election year. When Stella's father and two other black men go to register to vote, Stella is able to travel with them. She sees firsthand how her father and friends are treated compared to the white men who come to register to vote. After the KKK returns to Bumblebee, the house of one of the men who accompanied them to the voter registration catches fire. Stella saves one of the children of that home from the fire and she becomes a community hero.
Stella is a young girl who tries her best in school. She wants to improve her writing, so she practices at night. She feels that she can be free to write what she wants during the night. It is in her writing that she tries to sort out what she sees happening all around her. She recognizes the horse of a very wealthy, popular white citizen that was at both the cross burning and the house fire. She is not able to find any way to understand why this man would be so hurtful and mean. However, Stella finds ways to be kind to all of those around her, even those that are hurting her family and friends.
I enjoyed how the author, Sharon Draper, is able to bring historical facts into a wonderful fiction story. I hope that you will enjoy this story as much as I did. I'm so glad that I have had the opportunity to get to know Stella better. Stella is my hero.
Happy Daily Reading
Deanna
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