Dara is a Cambodian American girl living with her parents, little brother, and grandmother, Lok Yeay. Lok Yeay often tells stories about life in Cambodia years ago, before she fled with her brother and Dara’s mother, who was then a baby, during the war. They eventually settled in Maine. But Dara’s great uncle later returned to Cambodia, and Lok Yeay has not seen him in many years. When word comes that he has died, Lok Yeay grows very sad and won’t leave her room. Worried Dara looks for a way to help her grandmother, first praying with her at the family shrine, and then weaving the beautiful details that she’s heard about Cambodia over the years into a story about the trip they will all someday take. “We will find the house by the river and our family living there … All around us, the air will smell of flowers.” Notes at the end of this fairly lengthy and skillful picture book narrative provide more information on Cambodian refugees in a story firmly grounded in the present while referencing what happened in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s in an age-appropriate way. (Ages 7–10)

A touching story of family, loss, and memory. Dara's grandmother, Lok Yeay, is full of stories about her life growing up in Cambodia, before she immigrated to the United States. Lok Yeay tells her granddaughter of the fruits and plants that grew there, and how her family would sit in their yard and watch the stars that glowed like fireflies. Lok Yeay tells Dara about her brother, Lok Ta, who is still in Cambodia, and how one day she will return with Dara and Dara's family to visit the place she still considers home. But when a phone call disrupts Lok Yeay's dream to see her brother again, Dara becomes determined to bring her grandmother back to a place of happiness. Anne Sibley O'Brien's dreamlike illustrations beautifully complement this fictional story based on real-life experiences. Back matter contains information about the admission of Cambodian refugees into the United States, specifically Maine, after soldiers forced them out of their homeland in the 1970s. An author's note and glossary are also included. A PATH OF STARS was originally developed for the New Mainers Book Project, part of the Maine Humanities Council's Born to Read program. The Project sponsors high-quality children's picture books created from the experiences of Maine's refugee communities, to preserve and present their cultural heritage and to promote their English language literacy.