The Keeper of Stars

The Keeper of Stars is a gentle picture book about the magical potential of a child’s bedtime routine. The story follows Milo, a young boy who always requests that his mother read three books with him before he goes to bed. When Milo’s mom routinely falls asleep following the third story, Milo’s regular practice is to slip from his bed and go to the window where he waits for “the friendly comet” to take him away for an adventure in the sky.

Riding on the comet’s tail, Milo joins the Keeper of Stars who appears as a large bear with a star shaped mark on its forehead. Milo assists the Keeper in its daily duties of cleaning up the night sky after the day’s events, as well as polishing individual stars. Like stubborn children, the stars’ washing requires full-time attention as certain stars are ticklish and others resent being forced to take baths in the first place. The Keeper stresses the importance of returning the washed stars to their rightful places as sailors use them to navigate the sea at night and astronomers also depend on their positions. Owls and bats join the cleanup crew sometimes though they’re often more distracting than helpful.

When all the work is done for the night, Milo enjoys playing with the stars, dancing with them or juggling their bodies to comedic effect. One night he asks them to move into position to spell out a birthday message for his mom, but the stars quickly get distracted and the message devolves into gibberish. Before the comet returns Milo home, Milo and the Keeper share herring sandwiches and hot chocolate while marveling at the beauty of the night sky and all the stars therein. With some lingering stardust on his clothes, Milo rides the comet back to his bedroom where he rejoins his sleeping mother in his bed. Milo drifts off to sleep with the final pages showing the Keeper of Stars’ silhouette outlined by stars in the night sky above.

Jennifer Harris’ prose lovingly portrays a child’s imaginative journey and the wholesome fun involved in kindly helping out one’s friends. The book’s tone strikes one of magical realism, with Milo’s matter-of-factly jetting off every night to complete his duties in the night sky as simply viewed as being another part of his bedtime routine. Dorothy Leung’s cool colour palette aids the overall sense of ease and calm, perfectly encapsulating the bedtime atmosphere and imaginative play involved in storytelling. Leung lingers on small but powerful details, such as the framed picture of Milo’s father (presumably deceased) that Milo taps three times each night before settling in for a story with his mother, thereby giving visual importance to subtle details that might otherwise go unnoticed.