How the Stars Came to Be

With her stunningly beautiful visuals, inspired by nature and Indian traditional designs, Poonam Mistry offers a folk tale style answer to the age-old question of how the stars came to be in the sky.

There was a time when light came only from the sun and the moon. This was fine for most of the days each month but left a few that gave the fisherman’s daughter cause to fear for her father’s safety out at sea at night with no moon to guide him. Such is her concern that one morning the Sun finds her shedding tears and asks her why she is so distressed.

Her response fuels the Sun with an idea. Taking a golden ray, he throws it down to earth where it shatters into a million glowing fragments. These he instructs her to gather up and place into the sky once he’s dropped beneath the horizon. “We will call them stars,” he says.

That night the Girl begins her task, placing the brightest star above her head and naming it Polaris. Piece by piece she carefully positions the stars, fashioning them into wonderful images; but no matter how many she uses, her bag still appears to be full. Has she taken on an impossible task?

All the while a monkey has been watching the Girl and as she sits despairing, he grabs her bag and dashes back up to hide in the trees. The Girl follows, a struggle ensues and out tumble all the remaining stars, seemingly ruining her work. But do they? Accidents do occasionally have happy outcomes …

Intricately patterned, awesome art shines out at every page turn of this book.