Rules For Stealing Stars By Corey Ann Haydu

Books shape people into brilliant and creative members of society. These books need to be exposed to children at a young age so they can grow and develop over the years. The story that should be included in the Little Free Library is Rules For Stealing Stars by Corey Ann Haydu. The book is about a young girl named Silly and her three older sisters working together to help their mother out of her depression and sickness with the help of magic. Silly, short for Priscilla, has always felt out while her sisters have share a secret. She soon finds out what that secret is: the ability to turn artwork into a magical wonderland in their closets. As she is introduced into these new worlds, she discovers the secrets to their mom’s past, Silly’s powers

over the closets, and the forbidden closet. The book blends fantasy and current issues people face together into one amazing story. The book Rules for Stealing Stars should be added to the Little Free Library because of the amazing imagery, the display of heroic traits, and the connections to real-world issues.
The story Rules for Stealing Stars has a very unique display of imagery. It is very important to have imagery in books, especially this one. This is because they go on so many different artistic, magical worlds. The author incorporates the imagery to make the readers imagine what Silly and her sisters see and feel. Stephen King once said: “Imagery does not occur on the writer’s page; it occurs in the reader’s mind. To describe everything is to supply a photograph in words; to indicate the points which seem the most vivid and important to you, the writer, is to allow the reader to flesh out your sketch into a portrait” (Keleshian). Imagery is found inside this book in every chapter. Once, Silly and her sister Marla went into the forbidden closet but it wasn’t what they thought it would be like: “‘It’s a memory closet,’ Marla says. She has happy tears in her eyes, but all I can feel is scared. There are trees with golden trunk and the river is golden and fizzing. The boat we are somehow in is golden. Marla’s eyes are golden” (Haydu 211). This part of the story shows the reader what they are seeing and feeling. It creates a beautiful picture in your mind to explain that they are in a fairytale-like world. Another passage that uses imagery explains how Silly sees and feels about the visit to the closet: “So I leave the warm feeling, the sunbeams and their pretty pattern, the unusual sensations, tickly and soothing at the same time. The trip to the sky, carried by sunbeams. I want to get my sisters in here with me. I want more eggs and more beams and more feelings of calm and happiness and easiness and thrill” (Haydu 77-78). The author demonstrates this with alliteration and metaphors. She utilizes many adjectives to describe what Silly feels in the closet and the longing for her sisters. Imagery makes children imagine the character and their setting, especially when things get tough.
Rules for Stealing Stars teaches children important lessons on how to be a hero and what a hero looks like.

Throughout the book, Silly demonstrates three heroic traits: compassion, bravery, and persistence. The first one, compassion, is important when the hero is helping someone who isn’t emotionally stable. Silly does this well when she thinks that “I guess I sort of deserve this, from looking away when it happened to my sisters. We’re all in it alone. I have to stay strong. No part of me wants to touch her, but I stay next to her and look to make sure her hand’s not bleeding or anything (Haydu 132). In this passage, Silly is actually being compassionate. It might sound like she is an awful person for not hugging her mom and asking is she is okay, but Silly’s mom is very strange and is suffering from many things like depression and alcoholism. She is caring for her mom in a different way. Another heroic trait that Silly portrays is bravery. In this passage, Silly is being brave. She is scared but she does what she has to do to save her sister from being lost in a closet: “I let us out. I’m still scared. I'm overwhelmed by the fast swallowing and all the warmth that is now both inside and in my hands, my pockets, slipping into my shoes. But it feels good to turn the knob and get a smile from Eleanor and a hip bump from Astrid” (Haydu 301). The last heroic trait she displays very well is persistence. As much as she would love to do something else and forget this whole thing,

she keeps going to save her sister: “I wouldn’t mind returning the star to the closet, I think, and staying there with it. The star and the closet and the only things that help. I tell my mind to stop thinking those thoughts. We can’t give up” (Haydu 262). In this book, Silly displays various heroic traits in situations people face everyday.
Rules for Stealing Stars connects to the readers in a personal way with challenges people face daily.

This books deals with multiple problems people face in society like depression and alcoholism. That is what makes this book a “good” book. It takes world issues and turns it into a fairytale. In the article “What Makes a Children's Book Good?”, its says that “...there has been a broad resurgence of the idea that children’s books should be ‘socially conscious,’ which isn’t that far from morally instructive. Vast numbers of children’s books these days are somehow ‘timely’ and ‘relevant,’ taking on issues like discrimination or animal cruelty” (Gidwitz). A passage from this books deals with a thing that all kids deal with which is parents fighting. Silly’s view on this is that “Mom starts yelling at Dad almost right away, and I should be relieved that he directed her away from me, but I don’t want her yelling at anyone” (Haydu 24). It is a tough topic for some kids and this help them relate to the character so they don’t feel alone. In an article called “Novel Finding: Reading Literary Fiction Improves Empathy”, the editor said that “This genre prompts the reader to imagine the characters’ introspective dialogues. This psychological awareness carries over into the real world, which is full of complicated individuals whose inner lives are usually difficult to fathom” (Chiaet). Rules for stealing Stars addresses important issues that people face daily with a small amount of

magic.
The novel Rules for Stealing Stars should be added to the Little Free Library because of the magical imagery, the multiple heroic traits, and the way it addresses issues in the real-world. It is a wonderful choice for the little free library. This wonderful story has great imagery that draws the reader in. It shows children that being a hero requires super strength or a cape. It shows them that they can be a hero anywhere. With the help of some magic, Silly and her sisters conquer serious topics like their mothers depression and addiction. Books are very important in children’s lives, so every kid should have an opportunity to read a good book.