'Look Up at the Stars' by Katie Cotton is a truly gorgeous text to use with young children. This tale of a Mom and her sweet baby bear trying to catch a star has a wonderful rhyming structure to it, with some stanzas repeated for familiarity. I would use this with my young students in multiple ways to look at poetry structure, rhyming words and descriptive language as well as studying winter, the nature of stars and light and dark. The illustrations are simply stunning and tell the story, possibly even more than the text does. I would love to use this without the text in the first instance to help with reading comprehension, inference and order of events. I would even use this text with my older students as a springboard to their own creative writing.

A magical text that I will absolutely be purchasing as a hardcopy as soon as it is publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ -- Just beautiful.

Goodness, books like this make me wish my kids were still small. ❤️ The illustrations in this one are just wonderful. My favorite being page 11 (the stars gave us light). The story itself is sweet, rhythmically worded and will give you the warm fuzzies. I can't recommend this one enough.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC.

Firstly i wish to say, the illustrations within this book are beautiful.

The story depicts a mother love for her child, where they go in search of a star to make the young bear happy. However the bear realises that he doesn't need to go an adventure to be happy as he has all the light he needs right at home.

My six year old boy loved this book and rated it 5/5. He found it very easy to read and recognised the rhyming language used. He said he loved the stars and mummy and baby bear.

This is an amazingly illustrated, magical, children's book, which is full of wonder and delight.

A little bear wants her Mum to get her a star, so her Mum promises to reach up to the sky to retrieve one for her. They set out from home on an adventure at night time, trying to catch a star for the child. They are not able to get one, but they realise that their own home is full of light and is shining bright like a star, and so they travel home to enjoy the light and warmth of their own perfect dwelling.

This book is so beautiful and the illustrations are amazing. It is a book that fills you with joy and happiness and opens your heart. My daughter and I loved it! Highly recommended!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

What a sweet book! Both my three-year old and my one-year-old enjoyed the illustrations and the gentle rhyming. I'd say it's a great fit for kindergarten and younger!

A baby bear and his mother look up at the stars, and the young bear dreams of holding one in his hands. Mama bear promises to catch one for him, but when they reach the top of the mountain, they find she can't quite reach them. But wait - the stars in town and the light from their home are another set of stars, calling them home. It's a lovely, cozy story of dreams, adventure, and coming home. I love children's books with dreamy illustrations that really add to the story, and these are perfection.

We received this as an ARC and I'll likely buy the hard copy for my youngest when it's available!

Look Up at the Stars
Katie Cotton
a great book for kindergarten or preschool. Allowing parents to share their love of nature with their children. the book focuses on a mom trying to bring stars to her child because it will make her happy. The pictures are simple and beautiful. great for art appreciation and can be used for art lessons for kindergartens.

This one is absolutely beautiful and so touching. As both children and adults, we can forget to take the time to look up at the stars and see the beauty and magic of the world and the night sky above us. Bonus: this one rhymes. This one centers around a parent and their little one. When the little one sets his heart on holding a star, his parent informs him that he will catch him a star, and so they go on a journey, through the forest, through the sea, through the snowy wilderness. In the end, the child’s nightlight is its own kind of star, “shining so brightly they didn’t even know.” This one is absolutely perfect.

4.3 Stars

Little baby bear looks up at the sky from his room and asks his mama bear for a star. She promises to catch him one, and they travel across the forest, sail through the waters, trudge in the snow, and finally climb Mount Digger-Do.
Mama bear cannot reach the stars, and the little one realizes something important. They see the light in their home and get back to it. After all, home is a safe haven and has everything we need.
The theme isn’t new, but the story is. It comes in easy verses with a recurring stanza by the kiddo bear. But that’s not what I love about the book. So guess what?
Yes! It’s the illustrations. The bears are cute enough, but the landscape is wow. Some pages are double-spread (I think that’s what it’s called), with the illustrations covering both sides of the book. The colors are dark greens, dark blues, and browns with detailing in creams and whites. The forest shrubs have eyes staring at the reader. ;)
The page with the sea is my favorite. The waves are majestic, sweeping the expanse of the book from one end to another. The pages with snow have a Christmasy feel, and the one with the mount and the emerald sky is dramatic. (you get the drift).
To summarize, Look Up at the Stars is a sweet book with a heartwarming theme. But pick it up for the illustrations.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Such a wonderfully illustrated and rhythmically worried book.

When a mother bear and her child look into the night sky, the young bear exclaims how lovely they are, and how happy he’d be to hold one in his hands. So, much like many parents, the mother bear begins a long trek to bring the stars down to make her child happy. Through beautiful forests, and wondrous mountainsides, the pair keep looking for a way to reach the stars, In the end though, the young bear and their mother realize that the stars are not the only thing that brings light into their lives.

I am always a fan of stories that are fun to read out loud, and this one is definitely up there for me, I really loved the repeating verses throughout, and found the overall story to be quite lovely.

Cute picture book about an anthropomorphic mother bear and her cub, as they go in search of stars.

The mother keeps talking about how bright they are, and how she will catch one for her cub. But when they climb to the highest they can, they find they can't.

However, when they get there, they find the stars too high.

But the child says the light from their house, so far away, is like a star, and will do just fine.

So, the story is that home is where the love is? No need to go look for the stars? It is a lovely, illustrated book, and seems to say that you can find what you want at home, and I suppose that is the whole point.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

Beautiful story and illustrations! I love the writing and pictures. Quick easy bedtime read for kids. Thank you NetGalley for the early read!

Heartfelt, touching and a beautiful celebration of home. This book may be set in a land covered in ice and snow but the story will melt your heart and leave it feeling full and warm. Gorgeous illustrations accompany simple rhyming text as Cotton weaves the tale of a mother bear and her child. The leave their home to search for a star. With a aching longing conveyed for wanting to hold a star there is a sense of exploration and desire for adventure, but in the end they realize love, family and home are the greatest things in life to hold onto. They travel across oceans, through woods, where they face rough waters and darkness. They climb to the top of a mountain to reach the stars. A perfect bedtime story for parents to read to their children to share in the joys of being home with the ones you love and that sometimes all the things we are searching for can be found at home.