SYDNEY’S STAR

Young Sydney discovers that the world works in mysterious ways, cockamamie too, in this loopy item with a message. Sydney is an inventor of whatever captures her fancy—a better cheesecake, a better birdhouse, and in this case, a remote-controlled star. Her star is such a gem—and pulsing with readiness in Reynolds’s whimsical watercolors—she enters it into the science fair, where it dazzles the crowd, but then takes a powder into the firmament. This breaks Sydney’s heart; on the other hand, it so happens that the star is on a mission to save the life of a captain on a research vessel caught in a storm. Turns out the star had picked up a distress signal from the ship and went to help. After being guided to safety, the captain (also a female) offers Sydney a telescope and a job as a research assistant as well; Sydney and her star are front-page news. Off the wall, sure, but the larger point of never knowing what the fruits of creativity might yield is nicely packaged in the folderol, and it’s a refreshing shift to have females in non-traditional roles. (Picture book. 4-7)