Girl Made of Stars

Girl Made of Stars is a 2018 Young adult fiction novel by Ashley Herring Blake that was published May 15th, 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Girl Made of Stars is Blake's fourth novel. The novel focus on Mara, a student from Pebblebrook high school, who finds herself in a tense situation after her twin brother, Owen, is accused of sexual assault by his girlfriend, Hannah. Consequently, Mara's relationship with her brother deteriorates as she does not know who she should believe in this situation. In addition, Mara is crestfallen after splitting up with her long time girlfriend, Charlie, and attempts to reconcile with her after she decided to break up with her. 

Upon release, Girl Made of Stars was positively received from critics. Critics praised the novel for the difficult themes that Blake tackles such as gender identity and the liveliness of both primary and secondary characters. Critics took exception with the amount of topics that Blake covered in her novel, arguing that the confluence of so many themes hurt the overall structure of the novel. In 2019, Blake's novel was included on the Amelia Bloomer book list, an annual list compiled by the American Library Association to recognize books aimed at teenagers that contain strong female characters and feminist messages. In the same year, Girl made of Stars was nominated in the LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult category at the 31st Lambda Literary Awards.

Plot
Twin siblings Mara and Owen decide to attend a weekend party where their peers from Pebblebrook High School will be present. At the party, Owen trails off with his girlfriend, Hannah, after drinking a significant amount of alcohol. Mara catches a glimpse of her former girlfriend, Charlie, holding another girl's hand, which bothers her. She asks Owen's best friend, Alex, to drive her home. Alex leaves to inform Owen thereabout; however, when he returns, Mara notices the pallor of his face. 

When school resumes, Mara catches wind that Owen was pulled out of one of his classes. As she returns home, she sees her brother sobbing and her parents let her know that Hannah has levied charges against him stemming from the weekend party. To calm her mind, Mara decides to pay Charlie a visit. They make out for the bowling alley. Mara questions Charlie on the latest developments in her life and Charlie confesses that she now identifies as genderqueer. Mara admits to Charlie that she still views her as a best friend, which causes her to storm off.

Owen returns to school the next day and starts to spread rumors about Hannah. Mara feels overwhelmed and flees from school. She stumbles upon Alex at the cemetery where they commiserate in their struggles and end up kissing each other. As Mara returns to school, Charlie invites her to a club where she will perform one of her songs. Mara agrees to accompany her. She becomes enraptured with Charlie's performance and starts to ponder whether she should rekindle their relationship.

After missing a couple weeks of school, Hannah returns to school whereupon she faces a barrage of insults. Charlie and Mara walk her down the hall as students insult her. Mara scours the environment and as she sees a student hurl an insult at Hannah, she decides to pounce on him. The school's principal pulls her away from him and metes out a suspension to Mara. Mara's parents decide to ground her for the entirety of the suspension; however, they allow her to attend an after-school fundraiser. At the event, she sets up a booth with Charlie. Mara apologizes for her aversion toward intercourse which she attributes to the failing of their relationship. She opens up to Charlie about her encounter with Mr. Knoll, a professor who fabricated reports of cheating against her to make sexual advances to her. The confession catches Charlie off guard and Mara leaves the event distraught and in tears. 

Owen reveals to his parents that prosecutors have decided to drop all charges against him. Charlie visits Mara and apologizes for her reaction to her confession. Once night falls, Mara climbs on the roof to gaze at the stars with her brother. Owen starts telling a story and Mara concludes the story by retelling her interaction with Mr. Knoll. As the two look out at the stars, Mara attempts to mend her relationship with her brother. After she returns to her room, she texts Charlie who visits her to offer words of encouragement. Feeling comforted by Charlie's words, she crawls up into bed with her parents and shares her traumatizing experience with them.

Characters
Alex: Owen's long time best friend. He witnesses Owen's assault on Hannah and this strains their friendship. He develops a bond with Mara, which turns into a sexual relationship. He agrees to end the relationship as he and Mara find the relationship to be unhealthy since he admits that he used the relationship to temporarily forget about his problems.

Charlie: Mara's long-time girlfriend and main love interest. She reveals to Mara that she identifies as genderqueer; however, she fears that revealing this to her parents will disappoint them. She plays guitar and sings and ends up playing at a club where she invites Mara. She admits to Mara that she never lost interest in her and always wanted to re-establish their relationship. As Mara struggles to cope with Owen's actions and her encounter with Mr. Knoll, Charlie lends her support. Charlie also witnesses the assault on Hannah and attempts to help her recover therefrom.  

Greta: A member of Mara's Empowerment student club at Pebblebrook. She used to have feelings for Owen. She votes for Mara to step down as president of the student club to avoid conflicts of interest. Greta picks up Mara as she trudges home alone after an argument with Charlie and apologizes for her actions in the student club. 

Hannah: Owen's former girlfriend who winds up a victim of sexual assault. When she returns to school, she encounters a barrage of insults directed at her. She is the first person in whom Mara confides her encounter with Mr.Knoll. She is a long time friend of Mara. She is reluctant to press charges against Owen; however, once the case is set in motion, she testifies and has her testimony rebuked by prosecutors. 

Mara: the main protagonist of the novel. She heads the Empowerment student club, a club that publishes a paper whose goal is to address the gender inequalities that women face. She identifies as bisexual and dated Charlie for a while. She ends the relationship as she felt uncomfortable dating a friend and at the though of having a sexual relationship. As a result of Mr. Knoll's actions, she is traumatized and only opens up once she is in the company of Charlie and Hannah. She shared a close bond with Owen and the two enjoyed gazing at the stars. Her relationship becomes strained with Owen as she does not lend credence to his retelling of the sexual assault; however, by the end of the novel, she attempts to repair their relationship.   

Mr.Knoll: Mara's Grade 6 Math teacher. He fabricated a report of cheating against Mara to speak to her privately. Once he pulls her aside, he exposes himself to her and threatens to fail her if she does not perform a sexual act on him. 

Owen: Mara's twin brother. After becoming intoxicated at the Pebblebrook weekend party, he sexually assaults Hannah. Instead of fessing up to his actions, he spreads rumors around Pebblebrook that besmirched Hannah's character. The charges against him are ultimately dropped.

Critical Reception
Girl Made of Stars received generally favorable reviews. Mary Cosola of Common Sense Media gave the novel a rating of four stars out of five, praising Mara's character as one with whom the audience can relate well in regard to the hurdles that she has to overcome. Although Cosola admires the breadth of issues that Blake attempts to address in the novel, she argues that the multitude of themes ultimately winds up overwhelming the reader. Kirkus Reviews praised the novel's representation of Charlie and Mara's sexualities, which represents a genuine depiction of their struggles. Leighanne Law of the School Library Journal praised the way in which the novel progress and the myriad of themes it broaches, considering the novel as a 'must-read young adult book'.

References

Category:2018 American novels
Category:American young adult novels
Category:Novels set in Tennessee
Category:Novels about rape
Category:Novels with bisexual themes
Category:LGBT-related young adult novels
Category:American LGBT novels
Category:Novels about bullying
Category:Houghton Mifflin books
Category:Novels with transgender themes
Category:Novels with lesbian themes
Category:Novels about families