How the Stars Came to Be: Deluxe Edition, a lush, statement folk story

Folk stories shouldn’t have an age ceiling. Most of the folk tales that I’ve encountered have enough details in them to merit a feature-length movie. The really great ones can also be distilled into simple stories that are short enough, in that package, to be enjoyed by young audiences. How the Stars Came to Be Deluxe Edition, is an illustrated fable book that feels like it belongs in your hand. It’s a beautifully illustrated book whose regal impression is felt from the moment that you lay eyes on it. The front and back of the book have gold inlays where some of the stars in the sky are, in addition to the main character’s jewels and hair.

The person on the cover is simply known as Girl or Fisherman’s daughter. She’s a caring, loving daughter who worries about her dad is out at sea and the full moon having just passed. At night, the vast, black ocean doesn’t provide any way for him to navigate his ship and he’s a long way from home. One morning she’s sobbing on the shore when the sun takes pity on her and asks what’s bothering her.

The sun came up with the genius idea of giving her a golden ray of sunshine. Once it gave it to her the ray of light shatters into countless pieces. She’s then asked to gather up all of the pieces and climb the highest mountain at night so that she could place the light pieces in the sky. Now the book’s title, How the Stars Came to Be, as well as its folk credibility is coming into focus, isn’t it?

She grabs the brightest piece of light and announces that it’s to be called Polaris, always pointing the way North. Each piece of light is arranged with precision and care so that an ornate pattern of perfectly placed angles is in the sky. The Girl continues placing the shards of light in the night sky for weeks at a time, but her bag is still loaded with countless amounts of light.

It’s just then that a very cheeky monkey asks her if he’s able to touch one piece of light. She doesn’t see the harm in that, but he’s a monkey and we all know about monkeys in fables, don’t we? Sure enough, the monkey just can’t help itself and the entire bag of light is slipped over its tail as it scampers up a tree. Because her mission to light up the night sky isn’t complete, she gives chase after the monkey.

A brief struggle ensues and the monkey lets go of the bag, scattering all of the light across the night sky. Initially, Girl is disjointed because it disrupts her patterns, but upon further investigation, she realizes that the night sky is now much more illuminated than it was before. She’s even able to see her father’s boat in the distance, and the entire village comes out of their homes to admire the newfound light at night.

This is a fable that’s comfortable in its current length, but also has enough weight to be flushed out with more characters and a subplot, as long as the ending was the same. In this package, How The Stars Came to Be is a statement of a keepsake book. The edges of the pages are glossy gold and reflect any source of light. That same gold is inlaid on its cover in Girl’s hair, and in the stars behind her.

The illustrations inside the book are impossibly detailed. The patterns that are on the background of each page are minute and seemingly random as if someone has spilled a container of sprinkles. As the book goes on, the patterns become more organized are spread out to the sky, with different patterns creating the foreground. The effect is surreal at first, especially when the color of the text changes from page to page. At first I found the text a little challenging to read because it was the same color as hundreds of color pops on the page. That’s where the slow, patient pacing of How the Stars Came to Be takes center stage.

It’s a read-aloud book whose words paint such a vivid picture that you’ll subconsciously read it slowly for dramatic effect. You, and the young audiences that you’re with, will both look at the illustrations and touch them, just to confirm it’s not real jewels. They’re not. The book however is a lush gem that the read-to-me crowd will go gaga over.

How the Stars Came to be is by Poonam Mistry and is available on Tate Publishing.

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