Stella by Starlight
Written by Sharon M. Draper & published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers ©2015
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Grade Level: 4-6 Whole Class Read
Lexile Score: 740L Accelerated Reader: 4.8
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Bumblebee, North Carolina in the 1930s was extremely segregated, as eleven-year-old Stella Mills is extremely familiar with. Even so, the Ku Klux Klan hasn't been a bother in her town for years. But one late night, when young Stella and her brother are outside (even though they shouldn't be), they see the ghastly figures in white hoods. Stella's family and community must deal with this fear and discrimination, all while trying to fight for their rights.
Key words/phrases: history, rights, activism, inspiration, bravery
Suggestions for the Classroom
click the image to be linked to the website
This link to the Library of Congress website brings you to a page of archived images of Ku Klux Klan events that occurred in the south, roughly around the same time period as the book. This can help provide students with background knowledge on time period.
This video features Sharon M. Draper reading and discussing Stella by Starlight with an audience at a public library. Students can watch this video to build schema on the text.
This resource, from the National Education Association (NEA), shows a timeline of the the the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education court case to help students extend their civil rights knowledge (click here to be linked to more civil rights resources from the NEA).
click the image to be linked to the website
SUGGESTED COMMON CORE STATE STANDARD:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific
details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
KEY VOCABULARY
Eerie: strange and scary
Ku Klux Klan: a hate group that did not want African Americans to have rights
Preamble: the introduction to the constitution
Segregation: separating a group of people from others based on things like race
Sentinel: a common name for newspapers
Typewriter: a machine like a keyboard that prints letters and symbols on paper when
keys are pushed down
COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES
Before Reading: As a class or independently, research the time period Stella by Starlight is set in ( the 1930s), particularly in the south. Students should create a a graphic organizer, like a timeline or concept map, to illustrate what the southern American states were like in the 1930s. This will help students build background knowledge on the time period that the text takes place in and allow them to make connections from the book to their graphic organizers.
During Reading: Divide students into pairs and have them conduct an "interview" with their peers. First, have students work together to write a list of questions they would like to ask the book's main character, Stella. Then, have one student act as Stella while the second student acts as the interviewer. Students will ask their partners half of the questions they came up with and their partner will answer the way they believe Stella might. After students ask half of their questions, students will switch roles for the remaining half of the questions.
After Reading: In the book, Stella periodically writes her own newspaper articles for her imaginary newspaper, Stella's Sentinel. Have students create their own "newspaper." Students should write articles for their paper based on the events that occurred in the book. They can include images as well as title their creation.
WRITING ACTIVITY FOR INFERENTIAL COMPREHENSION:
After reading the book, instruct students to write a journal or diary entry from Stella's point of view twenty years after the book ends. Some questions for students to consider are: how is Stella's life different from twenty years ago? How is Stella's community different? How does Stella feel about the events that occurred during the book now?