The Stars Beneath Our Feet

The Stars Beneath Our Feet, published in 2017, is a contemporary middle grade novel written by author and filmmaker David Barclay Moore. Moore received the 2018 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe Author Award for New Talent for the novel, which met with critical praise and appeared on TIME Magazine’s Top 10 Children’s Books of the Year in 2017.

Plot Summary

The Stars Beneath Our Feet is told in the first person from the perspective of 12-year-old Wallace Rachpaul, who goes by the nickname “Lolly.” Lolly lives in the St. Nicholas Houses project in Harlem, New York, with his mom Sue-ellen and her girlfriend Yvonne. Lolly is struggling to cope with the recent death of his older brother Jermaine, who was shot after joining a street crew. Lolly hangs out with his best friend Vega, a boisterous, goofy 12-year-old kid who plays the violin; both are old enough to be expected to join a crew.

For Christmas, Lolly receives a book called A Pattern of Architecture from Steve Jenkins, his neighbor and Jermaine’s childhood best friend. Steve urges Lolly not to follow in Jermaine’s footsteps and to instead embrace his creative talents. Lolly is a Lego enthusiast; Steve believes Lolly has incredible architectural talent. On Christmas Eve, Lolly takes apart his Lego replicas to create something original. The next morning, he is stunned and excited when Yvonne brings him home two giant trash bags of Lego pieces supposedly destined for the trash from her job.

Lolly creates a massive Lego castle, but his mom makes him take it down when it takes over the whole apartment. Luckily, the director of his after-school program, Mr. Ali, finds Lolly space in the storage room to build an even bigger castle, which eventually turns into a city he names Harmonee. Big Rose, the biggest and tallest kid in the after-school program, never speaks until she starts building her own Lego city with Lolly’s Lego pieces. At first, Lolly is furious. Building the city helped him feel better about Jermaine’s death and feel closer to his father, who isn’t around often. Now he feels like Rose has invaded his world.

However, over the next few months, Lolly is impressed by Rose’s talent and attention to detail. She is building an exact replica of the St. Nick projects by memory alone. Lolly and Rose share ideas and watch each other build, and one day he even invites her to come downtown with him to scope out buildings. He confides that he often feels different from everyone, and that the holidays were really hard for him because of Jermaine’s death. Rose tells him that her mother killed herself. That is why Rose lives with her grandmother.

One day, after Lolly and Rose go to Tuttle’s Toy Emporium, where there is a giant Lego room, Rose’s grandmother gives Lolly a book of poetry, The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley. Lolly doesn’t think he’ll ever read it, but he is surprised when one of the poems moves him. It is a poem about imagination and creation.

Lolly and Rose find out that they will have to tear down their cities to make room for a new health class. Lolly is devastated. He and Rose poured everything they had into their cities. Mr. Ali proposes that he and Rose display part of their cities in the courtyard during an after-school program barbeque. Vega says making good art and music isn’t expected of poor people. Still, Vega thinks Lolly will make a great architect. Lolly thinks Vega will make a great violinist. While they discuss this, two boys from an East side crew jump them, beat them up, and steal their phones. Afterwards, Vega grows distant from Lolly, stops coming to after-school, and starts hanging out with his cousin Frito, who has been trying to get him to join his crew.

When Lolly and Rose display their Lego build, everyone is amazed at their creations. Even Lolly’s dad shows up. Lolly finds the courage to confront him: Maybe if his dad had been around, things would have turned out different for Jermaine. When Lolly finds Vega, however, Vega shows Lolly a gun. He plans to use it on Harp and Gully, and he wants Lolly to do it with him. Lolly and Rose’s creations garner so much attention that Mr. Tuttle, owner of Tuttle’s Toy Emporium, asks them to build a display in his store window. Lolly and Rose are ecstatic.

Suddenly, Yvonne is arrested. It turns out she has been stealing the Lego pieces that she has been bringing home from Tuttle’s Toy Emporium. Mr. Tuttle accuses Lolly and his mom of being in on Yvonne’s plans. Lolly angrily tells Mr. Tuttle that even though what Yvonne did was wrong, her giving him those Lego pieces saved him, quoting Phillis Wheatley about using one’s imagination. Mr. Tuttle drops the charges but rescinds his offer for Lolly and Rose to build a window display.

Seeing how devastated his mom is over Yvonne helps Lolly convince Vega to forget revenge and throw the gun into the river. Afterwards, Vega starts to return to his old self. Lolly realizes at the end of the novel that while who you hang out with can change you, but your own choices define who you are.