Written by: Donald Jacobson
Illustrated by: Graham Evans
For ages: 3 years and up
Language: English
Topics Covered: STEM, Bullying, POC-Centric Narratives, Space, Growing Up, Independent Thought, Self-Esteem, Social-Emotional Learning.
Summary: This rhyming story follows a young girl named Celestina, who dreams of being an astronaut despite everyone telling her to be a ballerina instead. Celestina is teased by her classmates and told to focus on something more realistic than being an astronaut by adults and teachers. Sadly, Celestina thinks that they may be right and begins to focus on dancing. One day, she gets a new teacher who tells the class that they are the ones in charge of their dreams-no one else can tell them what they want to accomplish. Her dream renewed, Celestina begins to focus on the hard work it will take to achieve her ultimate goal of going to space.
This book is super cute, and we really enjoyed it! Having a character interested in science and space that isn’t a boy, but instead a young girl of color, is refreshing. We really love that Celestina is a character that is developed enough to have multiple interests that she can embrace. She does love dance, and is talented at it, but space is where her heart truly lies. This book is also very believable in that when she is bullied, Celestina begins to doubt herself. But she also never truly gives up on her dream, and with the encouragement of her teacher realizes that she can accomplish exactly what she wants to.
We were sent this book by the author for review, but all opinions are our own!
About the Author & the Illustrator:
Here is a bit more info about author Donald Jacobson from his “about me” section of his website:
“I’m a husband, a father, a registered nurse, and a sometimes-writer living and working in Memphis, Tennessee. My main sources of inspiration when writing — especially when writing kid’s books — are my two amazing daughters (Hazel and Holly) and my beautiful, smart, supportive, and loving wife (Stephanie). Without them, I wouldn’t have had the courage to strike out and put my ideas on paper. I’d also like to give an honorary mention to our mopey rescue dog, Yoda, who stands beside me as the only other source of male DNA in our crazy, but wonderful, little family.
My secondary source of inspiration — er, maybe not “inspiration”, but information — is my clinical background in nursing. I’ve been a nurse for over 10 years, with experience in emergency nursing, EMS, case management, nursing informatics, and a variety of other settings. I also have two Master’s degrees, which definitely made me get over my fear of rejection when writing. If you’re a writer, and you have trouble just putting something out there for judgment, I highly recommend going through a Master’s program. You’ll eventually stop worrying about that rejection, get over your failure (after failure, after failure, after failure) and just learn to create content.”
We had some difficulty finding out information about illustrator Graham Evans, there are several artists with the same name and we don’t think he has a personal website featuring his illustrations. If you know, let us know!