Sparkling Together
Starbright and His Earthling Friends
Chandra Devi
Jyoti Ma
9780932040541
96 pages
Integral Yoga Publications
Overview
Grade 2-5-These eight stories, written as a means to nourish the self-esteem of the children, feature a friendly, humanlike extraterrestrial, Starbright, from Planet Om, whose spaceship lands near earthling children Rose and Sky. He invites the siblings to the Star Family Fest, and off they go. Starbright and his family are star-powered (a star glows from their shirts); earthlings are heart-powered. Cardboard characters, illustratively and textually, are paired with pedestrian story lines (school, friends, a new baby, moving, employment, grief) and share a similar format: the alien and the children meet in different stories and confront an issue (e.g., rescuing a bully, finding a job, etc.) predictably resolved by platitudes such as love lives in everything or the love in your heart stays with you wherever you go. While gentle books to raise children's self-esteem are always in demand, intention supersedes quality here.
Author Bio
Jyoti Ma began Sparkling Together as a means to nourish the self-esteem of the children she taught in San Francisco. The project evolved in Yogaville, Virginia, where Jyoti Ma took up residence in a blossoming community based in the universal teachings of Yoga. From California to Virginia, many children participated in the evolution of Sparkling Together, making the final product a treasured guide for children as they grow up.
