Your Eyes in Stars

Young Jessie and Elisa are firm yet unlikely friends living in upstate New York in 1934. Jessie, the daughter of the region's prison wardon, is chatty, tomboyish, the collector of wanted posters of infamous criminals and tall-tales is the extreme opposite of her German friend Elisa, who emits elegance and assurance with her foreign culture and many languages. They both swoon over Slater Carter, the prison's new inmate who can play the bugle and trumpet like no other and becomes Jessie's father's special undertaking and whose actions are the catalyst on which the story is woven in a very intriguing way. What is especially compelling is the way Kerr uses her secondary characters, (Seth, Jessie's brother's testing relationship with his father, her mother's coolness, a friend's pacifism), and the way she fully observes and senses what Jessie and Elisa are thinking and misunderstanding as young adolescents including the common and uncommon events and occur in their lives, and in every respect merges thoughts and actions to a satisfactory end. My only gripe was with the ending which was abrupt, it felt very much like Kerr was trying to wrap things up quickly, which went completely against the pace of the entire book and its explanations about the Holocaust were shallow and weak and could have delivered more.

It is 1934, and fourteen-year-old Jessica Myrer lives next door to the prison. That might bother most people, but Jessie has been living next to prisons her entire life. Her father, as the warden, oftentimes assigns actual convicts to do supervised yard work just outside Jessie's window. Jessie feels comfortable around them and even admires them, collecting wanted posters of famous criminals like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, and begging her father for the inside story. She is especially interested in the newest arrival, Slater Carr, a young and talented musician incarcerated on a life sentence for involvement in murder. Jessie doesn't have many friends and pretends not to care, maybe to ward off the hurt she feels at her classmates' rejections and her own mother's coolness and criticism toward her. But that begins to change when the new neighbor drops in to say hello. Elisa hails from Germany, and her family moved to town for her father's teaching job. Jessie first thinks of Elisa as exotic, refined and arrogant. But she soon learns that Elisa is just a bit shy, not used to making friends for having moved a lot. The two become fast and true friends. Through her friendship with Elisa, Jessie begins to open herself up, expand her interests, and really care about others. But then one day, Slater Carr starts off a series of events that may force Jessie and Elisa apart. This wonderful book by the talented and award-winning M. E. Kerr is a ticket to a past life when our country suffered a terrible depression, and the world moved towards war. YOUR EYES IN STARS is divided into two parts: the first tells the tale of their blossoming friendship, and the second consists of letters shared over the following years. Kerr's characters are full of life and very realistic. She offers a glimpse into different cultures, and her touch of humor helps ease the serious undertones of racism and war. --- Reviewed by Chris Shanley Dillman

Your Eyes in Stars by M. E. Kerr is an intriguing glance into the life of the daughter of prison warden in Cayuta, New York, during the Depression. Jessica Myrer is a tomboy who finds it hard to express herself other than through tall tales and posters of gangsters plastered on her wall. At least that is the case until the German girl Elisa Stadler moves in across the street. The girls become fast friends and often talk about Slater Carr, the inmate at the prison who can play the bugle like an angel and looks like one too. But the actions of that man eventually change the entire town, and make the two girls realize that they are no longer children. The characters in this novel were incredibly vivid and delightful. You could see Jessie grow up before you, gradually learning that life is not as clear as wanted posters pasted on her wall. I find that I really enjoy reading about this time period. It is interesting to look at the beginnings of the Holocaust from the eyes of an outsider, and to realize how little people outside of Germany actually knew about it.