What Came From the Stars

What Came From the Stars by Gary Schmidt is a high-fantasy story about a young boy, Tommy, who finds a magical necklace from another planet in his lunchbox and what ensues can only be explained as chaos.  I had a really hard time with this book – I’m not much of a fan of high fantasy stories, I need to be able to relate to the story in order to form a connection.  Throughout the book the setting jumped from Tommy’s world here on Earth, to a world galaxies away with their own language, culture, and history.  I had a difficult time with these parts of the story because it was so different from what I was used to, I didn’t have the patience to understand the intricacies of the story.  The other part of the story I had difficulty with was that Tommy just put this necklace on and began singing in a language from another galaxy, could paint in a way no human ever could, and eventually even his father accepted that he knew about these creatures and the trouble being caused around the town.  The total acceptance of this completely different universe was hard for me to understand because none of the characters, ever took a second to think about it.

That being said, fans of fantasy will most likely find this story extremely interesting with characters from another world, a lot of adventure, and friendships that are tested as Tommy learns more about the necklace and the choices he has.

For more information about Gary D. Schmidt and the books he’s written, check out his website!

Title: What Came From the Stars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publisher: Clarion Books
Publication Date: 2012
Page Number: 304 pgs.