Every Soul a Star

Inevitably, kids change as they grow into adulthood. That change is directed by a series of teachers—role models who can be negative or positive. In Every Soul a Star, education is overwhelmingly positive. At the center of the emotional and psychological evolution of the three narrators is the critical role played by education, specifically the need to nurture young minds and open them up to possibilities. Effective education ensures that adolescents enter adulthood curious about the world and impressed less by what they know than by what they need to learn. Mass’s narrators explore the powerful impact of a variety of teachers: parents and family, science and the physical universe, peers, and teachers themselves.

Ally, the most book-smart student among the narrators, is homeschooled. She lives in such a remote area that she and her brother have grown up without the distractions of television and movies, music and social media. Her education under the direction of her parents, both accomplished scientists, enriched her relationship with her family. The curriculum, tailored to her level of achievement, has built her confidence. Homeschooling targeted her interests and encouraged her to explore science on her own. Indeed, nature itself has become her most influential teacher. Her mind is open to the mysteries of the universe in ways that most 13-year-olds do not share.

If Ally is book smart, Bree is smart in a different way. Although she is steady enough in her classroom performance (her teachers expect little from her given her good looks), her education has taught her the dangers of getting immersed in the world of textbooks and facts. She has learned how to engage with people, how to measure their sincerity, and how to define their personalities. School has given her confidence in the psychology of appearance, the need to attend to looks, and how to groom herself to appeal to others. These are things textbooks cannot tell her. By observing her peers, she understands the dynamics of dating and how to survive the potentially precarious worlds of bus stops and lunch rooms, of which Ally knows nothing.

Jack’s narrative testifies to the critical role of teachers in young adults’ lives. It is the decision of Mr. Silver, Jack’s seventh-grade science teacher, to involve the misfit Jack in the exoplanet project that changes the trajectory of Jack’s adolescence. Jack is uncertain why Mr. Silver selected him to help in the summer project, but Mr. Silver has seen more than Jack’s awkward personality and his inability to focus on classroom material. Mr. Silver sees in Jack’s creative drawings the promise of a robust and keen mind. Like all great teachers, Mr. Silver recognizes in Jack the potential to grow.  

The stars have much to teach these kids. Even though the three narrators begin the novel sure of who they are, none is entirely happy with their defined identity. They are uncertain of their worth. Ally wonders about all the opportunities living at the camp may have denied her. She is uncertain over her looks, her social skills, and her ability to adapt to a new environment. Bree is not entirely sure she is content with others expecting her only to be pretty and suspects that there may be more to life than stylish jeans and expensive makeup. Jack lacks any level of self-esteem, his dysfunctional family life having convinced him of his status as a misfit able to function only in a world of his own invention.

At the campground, however, each narrator learns an important idea that the stars themselves teach. Each star in the universe, Ally explains, is composed of essentially the same matter—and yet each star is a special and unique expression of that matter. These stars each shine in their own way, and yet each is a critical part of a wider context, a constellation. The galaxy itself provides each individual star its place and its sense of importance. More importantly, as Ally explains, “the atoms in our bodies came from the stars that exploded” (318).

Each narrator applies that idea to their own life. They learn that who they are makes them special—that every soul, even theirs, is a star. As each character grows—as Ally begins to pay more attention to her appearance, Bree begins to explore her inner beauty, and Jack reaches out to others—they each grow in the confidence that who or what they are makes them special, and that they need not apologize to anyone as long as they are true to their own identity. That individuality not only makes them shine but makes them part of a wide universe of equally special others. As the eclipse ends and each kid prepares to begin a new life, the stars have taught them they are both apart from and a part of a world now bursting with previously unsuspected wonder.