Eyes That Speak to the Stars Book Review

 1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ho, J. (2022). EYES THAT SPEAK TO THE STARS. Harper Collins Childrens. ISBN: 978-0-06-305775-3

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

Eyes that Speak to the Stars is a picture book about a boy who is hurt by a friend’s drawing of him. His father and grandfather show him that his eyes rise to the skies and to be proud of them. 


3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In Eyes that Speak to the Stars, the characters are very authentic and culturally accurate. The main character, a boy, is hurt by his friend’s depiction of his eyes in a drawing. He, along with his dad, grandfather, and brother, are drawn culturally accurately, including hair color, skin tone, and facial features. 

The setting is not specifically shared, but it is implied to be somewhere in America. His grandfather immigrated at some point, as is shown in pictures. The pictures show long-ago China along with more modern familiarities of the country. For example, there is a night market shown on one of the pages with Chinese lettering for the shop names. 

In this picture book, there are many cultural markers for Asian Pacific Americans. One of the most noticeable is the backgrounds, which show traditional features of China on several pages. There are dragons, lanterns, rice fields, Mazu, who is a goddess who protects those on sea voyages, Chinese marketplace, traditional Chinese huts, and kites. The boy calls his dad Baba and his grandfather Agong. 

The illustrations in EYES THAT SPEAK TO THE STARS represent the Asian Pacific American population and are indicative of Asian Pacific culture. Ho used Adobe Photoshop for the illustrations. Ho also illustrates Asian Pacific symbols, including dagons, traditional Chinese homes, and lanterns.. The skin tones and hair are representative of Asian Pacificers. 


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

  • Booklist, 02/01/22

  • Kirkus Reviews, 12/01/21

  • School Library Journal starred, 11/01/21

Full-Text Reviews
Booklist (February 1, 2022 (Vol. 118, No. 11))

Preschool-Grade 1. The team that created Eyes That Kiss in the Corners (2021)—an homage to the family traditions passed down through Asian women—here offer a version for boys. When a young Asian boy sees his eyes depicted as two lines in a friend's drawing, he feels hurt and confides in his father. That's the launching point for an outpouring of affirmative poetry about the child's eyes and the tale they tell about him. That tale focuses on the boy's relationships with his father, grandfather, and little brother, as well as the broader culture shared among them. Fans of the first book will recognize the vivid and grand illustrations, from starry dragons to deities, juxtaposed with everyday scenes like playing chess with Agong (grandpa) or waking up Di-Di (baby brother). By the end, the boy has transformed into a fighter who owns his story amid the refrain, "eyes that rise to skies and speak to the stars." The last pages of this uplifting read show the boy releasing a floating lantern into the sky to join thousands of others.


  • 5. CONNECTIONS

Related books:

Ho, J. (2021). EYES THAT KISS IN THE CORNERS. Harper. ISBN: 978-0-06-291562-7


Cheng, C. (2024). I MISS YOU MOST. Rocky Pond Books.  ISBN: 978-0-593-53299-7

Activities:

Students can create a traditional Chinese lantern 

Students can compare and contrast Eyes that Kiss in the Corners and Eyes that Speak to the Stars

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