Stars Come Out Within

Jean Little's Autiobiography #2

by Jean Little

A successful writer of children's books in spite of severely impaired vision, Jean Little recounts her battle with worsening eyesight that pushes her to the edge of blindness

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography, Biography, Disability, Canada

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

Jean Little is a Canadian author, born in Taiwan. Her work has mainly consisted of children's literature, but she has also written two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. Little has been partially blind since birth as a result of scars on her cornea and is frequently accompanied by a guide dog.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about Jean Little's publishing travails makes me want to read every single book she describes; also, this evokes, so clearly, Beverly Butler's Light a Single Candle, when Cathy gets a guide dog.

After reading these two biographies back to back, I then read From Anna, Mine for Keeps, The School Story, Light a Single Candle, and Gift of Gold, because something about Jean Little's life reminds me of all of them.

Jean Little is a treasure.

[Yvensong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly written for a much younger audience than myself, but I believe this is quite readable for adults as well as younger people. It may not be as in depth as some adult readers would want, but the author does a wonderful job of conveying her hopes and her fears as her eyesight is leaving her. We share in her worries, her aspirations, her episodes of anger and depression, and her acceptance of the new way she has to live her life.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pulled this off the shelf at work (school library) to read on my lunch break and then brought it home to finish it. I read Mine For Keeps when I was young, and can still remember scenes from it. This was, unsurprisingly, quite readable, written fairly simply for a younger audience but still engaging for an adult reader. I really like that the reason Little started writing books for children was that she wanted and could not find a disabled protagonist that didn't either die or get miraculously cured, so she wrote one. Her enduring humility and perseverance in the face of really unfair circumstances are admirable, and her descriptions of learning to work with a seeing-eye dog are heartwarming and hilarious by turns.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more I read Jean Little, the more she feels like a friend. I love her clumsy blunders, her honesty, her courage (and lack of courage), her faith. We love many of the same authors: Sutcliff, Goudge (well maybe she gets less than a ringing endorsement, but at least she’s mentioned!), Katherine Paterson. I love this: “Much as I still dreaded losing what was left of my sight, angry as I still was, my life remained infinitely precious to me. It was certainly not trash to be thrown away; it was treasure to be reclaimed. And it was time I got started.” (122)

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely set of memoirs about a children's writer who struggled with various social problems and visual impairment. Overcoming adversity, learning to love oneself and reading, and relationships with parents are major parts of the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 2 in Jean Little's autobiography series. I heard that she was working on book 3 before she died. I hope we get to read it in some form.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book by an exceptional author. Her description of becoming blind and her joys and trials of adjusting to her guide dog Zephyr are heartwarming and informative.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an Inter-Library Loan. That meant I only had two weeks to read it. Yikes! And the font... well, it was darker and good sized, but the lines were too close together. That made it difficult for me to read, but not impossible. Under really good lighting and short sips of the book, I managed to finish. Yay! I thought often, that Jean Little, herself, would have had a hard time reading this. My eyes aren't nearly as bad as hers were, but I have similar problems. I have two eyes that operate independently from each other. Tracking is a big problem for me. In fact, I mostly read with one eye. The other goes on vacation. Its function is for far away. When I was young I had to hold the books really close. Not so close as to get print ink all over my nose, but near enough. As my eyes age, they let me pull the book away a bit.

With floaters, diabetes, and macular degeneration, I have deep fears of blindness. On the other hand, I have a great fascination with how people deal with it. I have always been amazed at abilities the disabled people portray. I remember reading about Helen Keller when I was in grade school. The week I got to see Miracle Worker on television, I walked around my house pretending to be blind to see if I could do it. After all, my great grandmother was blind. She made pot holders on her sewing machine for everyone in the family. She managed to get around her house just fine. No one lived with her. She had no guide dog, that I know of. And she never complained. Her conversations were like normal, none drew attention to her blindness. She could whip out her harmonica and play us all tunes. She was amazing. I could see and I couldn't sew or play the harmonica.

Anyway, back to the book. This is the second part of Ms. Little's autobiography. Her eyes were getting worse. That's bad for a writer. Especially for back then. Her way of writing a book was with a typewriter. How, if you can't see, do you go through the editing process? Granted she had a good support group with family and friends. People would read to her. She was already established with an editor and publisher, but she was also a bit of a perfectionist, as we should be at that stage.

As Jean Little goes through all these setbacks you see her honest reactions. No, she isn't always graceful in her acceptance of her disability or the ways around it. I loved the fact that she was able to show her grumpier side, or the parts when she did feel sorry for herself. She let us see her faults, her humanness. That was what kept me reading, I think. That and the dog. Oh, I wanted to hug that dog!

Within these pages, Jean sprinkled in poetry. Hers and others. She gives us clues into her reading life, her favorite authors and books. For those who love childrens' books, it is fun to see titles or authors of much adored reads of the past.

Now that I have finished reading the book, I want to see a part three. I want to go read her childrens' books and those she admired that I didn't read as a kid or mother. I understand she has a website. I am off to go research. I hope you enjoy this autobiography as much as I did.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was given to me as a young teen and I have read it many many times. Although I am older now, more experienced with books and memoirs, it still holds a special place for me. It is harder and harder to find Miss Little's books on the shelves in commercial bookstores, but From Anna (chapter book) and her first autobiography, Little by Little, are well worth seeking out. When I see Guelph, Ontario mentioned anywhere, my fist thought is, "Jean Little lives there!"

[Karin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I read this at the wrong time. Having just finished an exciting and engaging book, I just couldn't get into this one. It felt boring and superficial and lacked the insights promised by other reviews and descriptions. Some of her comments, especially upon judging people prior to really meeting them, left me thinking that we probably wouldn't be friends.

[The Hofs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part two of Jean Little's life. Loved it! It was great fun. Miss Little's experience with her seeing eye dog and journey to losing her sight was informative and inspiring. Not just worth reading, but owning.

[Jane Buttery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago and loved it. Jean writes about how a blind person can view he world from within the imagination and find joy. I know it is a book worth reading.

[Rayna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great look into the life of the visually impaired. Shows people that life goes on and we can't give up no matter what happens.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite.