#362 of 1001 · July 28, 2021

Today’s book celebrates the deep kindness and generosity of the human spirit: The Falling Stars, translated from German of the Brothers Grimm by Rosemary Lanning and illustrated by Eugen Sopko. A young girl, orphaned and homeless, sets out into the world with only a crust of bread and the clothes on her back, all of which she soon gives away to those in even greater need. Finally, when she is left with nothing at all, stars rain down from the sky and turn into gold coins, thus providing her with a fortune. Lanning’s appealing translation honors the Grimms’ language, while Sopko’s pictures, done in a naïve art style, ameliorate the profound sadness of the story’s setting. A note for folklore enthusiasts: the Brothers Grimm titled their original tale “Die Sterntaler” (“The Star Thalers”), as they specify that the miraculous money falls from the heavens as Joachimsthalers, a sixteenth-century Bohemian coin. #star #stars #gold #coins #charity #kindness #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks