Shine!

Author: J.J. and Chris Grabenstein
Illustrator: Leslie Mechanic

© Date: 2019
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Pages: 207
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: Not really, a few illustrations are used to explain astronomy concepts
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No

Summary from Book: Astronauts made it to the moon. Can Piper make it through middle school?

Note: This review is done from memory. I originally read this a short bit ago.

Page Pig Thoughts: Sometimes you read something and didn’t realize what you were missing in your life. This book definitely shines into that missing spot. Somehow a book celebrating good moral character over academic achievements and extra curricular activities feels like a breath of fresh air. Stories definitely discuss good character, but this one highlights that being a good person can be one of the most important things. Hooray for a book that celebrates kindness and how we shine most brightly when we do the things that make our heart sing.

Family Unit: Piper lives at home with her father. Her mother died when she was three.

Conflict/Social Issues:

Ainsley is good at knocking people down, literally with words and figuratively with her cello case.
Piper consistently feels less than the other Chumley students because she doesn’t have a special skill like sports or music.
Piper seems to live a bit in her mother’s shadow at Chumley. Her mother was amazing at the cello and beautiful and Piper doesn’t have anything like that.

Positive Items:

An award is highly sought after. In the end, the most beautiful thing is that award is for good character character, not some specific accolade, like academics, sports, music, or extracurricular.
Piper stays true to herself and finds new ways to explore her passion for astronomy.
Piper is able to make new friends at a new school. Her new friends like Piper for who she is and do not care what others will think when they befriend her.
Piper learns that no matter how much money your family has, everyone is just a person learning how to navigate life.

Items of Interest:

Piper’s dad is a music teacher. Piper’s mom was an amazing cellist. Piper has no musical talent, but is content helping her Dad at an a cappella concert because that is a big deal for her dad.
Piper loves astronomy because she finds Ursa Major (Big Mama Bear) and feels like her mom is up there looking out for her.
Piper is initially reluctant to go to school at Chumley because she is leaving her friends behind, and the Chumley kids were not nice at an a cappella concert. Piper’s friend, Hannah, also helps Piper understand that the kids at Chumley live different types of lives with fancy clothes and fancy vacations. Piper goes along because her dad is so excited about the opportunity for his teaching and her education that she doesn’t want to rain on his parade.
To earn spending money, Piper walks a pug for a widow at the senior citizen apartments, Mrs. Gilbert. Piper had plans for a special Christmas gift for her dad, and she was running close on earning enough money. When Mrs. Gilbert says that she doesn’t have enough money to pay Piper one week, Piper says that is okay and walking the dog was her gift to Mrs. Gilbert that week.
Ainsley is a Chumley student that was snickering about Mr. Milly’s shoes and socks at the a cappella concert. She strives to excel at everything everyday and is not bashful about letting others know when they don’t measure up to her standards.
A new award is announced at Chumley that comes with an honor of being the first winner and a plaque on the wall. Past really shining and standing out, the requirements for winning are not clear. Everyone is determined to win and show off their special skills.
Piper makes a new group of friends on her first day at Chumley – Siraj the science lover, Tim the magician, Kwame the comedian, and Emily the math lover. They all support one another and super encourage Piper with ideas to go for the Excelsior Award after she wins the science fair.
Piper gets scolded by her teacher for being late to class. Piper had helped two kindergartners find their way back to their class with some help from Tim because she didn’t know the way yet.
Piper helps a cafeteria worker clean up a tray of spilled spaghetti even though she gets made fun of by Ainsley and makes a mess of herself.
Piper helps a custodian turn off the water in a bathroom to stop the flooding toilet. Yes, her shoes and socks get wet. And yes, she gets made fun of by Ainsley.
Piper opts to continue cleaning trash on the side of the road instead of going to math club where she might stand out for the Excelsior Award. She winds up being the president of a new social activism club that her friends also cleaning trash come up with. She comes up with a new idea to start a program pairing older dogs needing homes with other senior citizens in the apartments where Mrs. Gilbert lives.
Piper wins the science fair with an astronomy related project and some pizazz from her magic loving friend Tim’s marble shooting robot. Later, Ainsley wins her protest of the decision. A team of her father’s lawyers reviewed the rules and found a way that Piper violated them and disqualified her. Her father feels badly that he doesn’t have lawyers to help protest the disqualification. Piper initially blames Tim because his robot is the nuance that makes her lose the winning award. She later apologizes because it was not his fault.
Piper winds up diving into a barrel of trash to help someone retrieve their lost family jewelry heirloom. Piper gets scolded because she had taken her uniform blazer off to dig through the trash.
Piper runs into Ainsley in the bathroom. Ainsley left her note cards for the Forensics Competition on the bathroom counter. Piper thinks about losing the card so that Ainsley will mess up, but wants to be the better person and personally walks the note cards out to Ainsley in the hall.
A talent show is being held before the Excelsior Award is given out. Piper has prepared an astronomy discussion that she practiced in front of her dad and is very excited about. Her friend, Tim, has his big magic act prepared. Emily and Siraj are helping with it. Tim is very excited to perform in front of his father. Each person only gets to be in one talent show act. Just before Tim’s act, the friends find out that Emily will not make it because she fell off her bike and sprained her wrist. Piper quickly decide that she will take Emily’s place and give up her solo act and chance to shine before the Excelsior Award is decided.
Piper’s dad is super proud of her helping out Tim’s magic act because it was something that her mom would have done. Piper finally understands that she doesn’t have to play the cello to be like her mom. Just being kind and generous makes Piper just like her mother.
Turns out that the Excelsior award was intended for someone with compassion, concern, and kindness, even in the most trying or unusual circumstances. Piper easily won the award, much to the surprise of everyone.