4.3 Stars

Little baby bear looks up at the sky from his room and asks his mama bear for a star. She promises to catch him one, and they travel across the forest, sail through the waters, trudge in the snow, and finally climb Mount Digger-Do.
Mama bear cannot reach the stars, and the little one realizes something important. They see the light in their home and get back to it. After all, home is a safe haven and has everything we need.
The theme isn’t new, but the story is. It comes in easy verses with a recurring stanza by the kiddo bear. But that’s not what I love about the book. So guess what?
Yes! It’s the illustrations. The bears are cute enough, but the landscape is wow. Some pages are double-spread (I think that’s what it’s called), with the illustrations covering both sides of the book. The colors are dark greens, dark blues, and browns with detailing in creams and whites. The forest shrubs have eyes staring at the reader. ;)
The page with the sea is my favorite. The waves are majestic, sweeping the expanse of the book from one end to another. The pages with snow have a Christmasy feel, and the one with the mount and the emerald sky is dramatic. (you get the drift).
To summarize, Look Up at the Stars is a sweet book with a heartwarming theme. But pick it up for the illustrations.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Such a wonderfully illustrated and rhythmically worried book.

When a mother bear and her child look into the night sky, the young bear exclaims how lovely they are, and how happy he’d be to hold one in his hands. So, much like many parents, the mother bear begins a long trek to bring the stars down to make her child happy. Through beautiful forests, and wondrous mountainsides, the pair keep looking for a way to reach the stars, In the end though, the young bear and their mother realize that the stars are not the only thing that brings light into their lives.

I am always a fan of stories that are fun to read out loud, and this one is definitely up there for me, I really loved the repeating verses throughout, and found the overall story to be quite lovely.

Cute picture book about an anthropomorphic mother bear and her cub, as they go in search of stars.

The mother keeps talking about how bright they are, and how she will catch one for her cub. But when they climb to the highest they can, they find they can't.

However, when they get there, they find the stars too high.

But the child says the light from their house, so far away, is like a star, and will do just fine.

So, the story is that home is where the love is? No need to go look for the stars? It is a lovely, illustrated book, and seems to say that you can find what you want at home, and I suppose that is the whole point.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

Beautiful story and illustrations! I love the writing and pictures. Quick easy bedtime read for kids. Thank you NetGalley for the early read!

Heartfelt, touching and a beautiful celebration of home. This book may be set in a land covered in ice and snow but the story will melt your heart and leave it feeling full and warm. Gorgeous illustrations accompany simple rhyming text as Cotton weaves the tale of a mother bear and her child. The leave their home to search for a star. With a aching longing conveyed for wanting to hold a star there is a sense of exploration and desire for adventure, but in the end they realize love, family and home are the greatest things in life to hold onto. They travel across oceans, through woods, where they face rough waters and darkness. They climb to the top of a mountain to reach the stars. A perfect bedtime story for parents to read to their children to share in the joys of being home with the ones you love and that sometimes all the things we are searching for can be found at home.