FAVORITE QUOTE inTHE STARS BENEATH YOUR FEET
Big Rose repeats a poetic phrase throughout the book. It is something her grandmother taught her and is a poem from one of her Gran's books. Rose and Lolly are both grieving and dealing with traumatic loss: Rose with the death of her mother to suicide and Lolly with the death of his brother to gang violence. Both find solace in creating. They build elaborate Lego cities together in the storage room of the after-school program and find comfort and healing in the process. Rose makes an exact replica of St. Nicholas Projects and the surrounding areas. She adds stars to the bottom of her buildings to represent all the people who have died.
“Rosamund, when youdie, they bury you, but your soul flies to the stars. Your mama,your daddy—they were buried under the ground,but they’restars now, girl,stars beneath our feet.”
Von Liane Hicks