The Language of Stars

by Louise Hawes

[Sam@WLABB]

Sarah couldn't believe, that she had gone to being part of the drama-geek clique to dating one of the most popular boys in school. When he wanted to throw a party at one of her favorite landmarks, she doesn't resist. However, things go awry, lots of things are broken and destroyed, and Sarah finds herself in trouble with the law. Her penance? To be part of the landmark's cleanup team, and to take a poetry class from none other than the owner of said home, who happens to be a famous poet. It may have started out as a punishment, but it resulted in Sarah finding herself and her voice.

I rather enjoyed spending the summer with Sarah. When I first met her, everyone else was making decisions for her. Her mother was pushing her towards a medical school track, while her boyfriend pulled her away from her friends and the things she loved to do. She didn't seem able to find the words, or the courage, to assert her own desires.

When she begins her poetry classes with Rufus Baylor, he inspires her. He taps into the words that she always had within her, and encourages her to use them. The friendship that developed between Rufus and Sarah was really beautiful, and I also greatly enjoyed the poems that were shared over the course of the story. It was wonderful to see Sarah build a relationship with her father, and to stop seeing him through her mother's lens.

Rufus didn't just inspire Sarah, he brought a new energy to the whole town. People were tapping into their creativity, and bonding together as a community. One of the things that factors largely into my enjoyment of a story is if it made me feel something, and I will admit, I shed some tears as I read this book, which means, job well done by Hawes.

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