Children’s books about environmentalism are needed more than ever and serve two important purposes: they disseminate knowledge about the environmental issues that imperil our ecosystem, and they impress upon younger readers the need to act. THE NIGHT THE STARS WENT MISSING seeks to achieve these aims, and largely succeeds. Its protagonist is Winston, a young boy who looks through his window one evening to find the stars have disappeared from the night sky. With the help of the Moon, he ascends a golden ladder into the heavens, where he discovers that the stars have not disappeared at all – they are hiding, painfully aware of the poor job that humankind has done in taking care of Earth, and worried that they will be next. Will Winston be able to ensure the stars return to their rightful place in the heavens?

Author Arthur J. Gonzalez makes of Winston an interloper, who travels through a space forest with a starry companion to gain entry to a “village” of stars, where he is treated with suspicion and fear. Illustrator Krapivina Olga’s pictures are very striking if derivative, putting one in mind of animated films in terms of composition and character design – Winston has the oval face, diminutive body, and oversized eyes of a Pixar film protagonist, and the color scheme is full of deep cinematic hues. The narrative is aimed at elementary school students, and should provide much of worth from a moral perspective, the most important takeaway being an age-appropriate reference to collective responsibility.

The presentation is of high quality, though the layout is occasionally less than optimal: some illustrations contain enough “dead space” to allow for the overlay of the text without obscuring anything, but others do not, which is a pity given the richly detailed pictures that accompany the story. There is also a peculiar word choice at one point – “jeered” is used where “cheered” or even “exclaimed” would have been more intuitive given the context – that may confuse younger readers. But THE NIGHT THE STARS WENT MISSING is a worthwhile read, a book with its heart firmly in the right place.

Written by Arthur J. Gonzalez and beautifully illustrated by Krapivina Olga, THE NIGHT THE STARS WENT MISSING is a well-written picture book with an important environmental message.

~Craig Jones for IndieReader