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Lost Star
While on an archaeological expedition to Balthor, a young astrophysicist stumbles upon the Lumpies--gray smiling creatures with a strange secret.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published March 26, 1979
About the author
Helen Mary Hoover
19 books60 followershttp://www.orrt.org/hoover/
Over the course of her twenty-three-year career as a writer, H.M. Hoover won eight awards for her writing, including three Best Book for Young Adult designations from the American Library Association and two Parent's Choice Honor Awards. Another Heaven, Another Earth received the Ohioana Award in 1982.
H.M. Hoover lived in Burke, Virginia. Her last published work was The Whole Truth - And Other Myths: Retelling Ancient Tales, in 1996.
Hoover changed her pen name to H.M. Hoover before Children came out because there was already a children's author named Helen Hoover.
Over the course of her twenty-three-year career as a writer, H.M. Hoover won eight awards for her writing, including three Best Book for Young Adult designations from the American Library Association and two Parent's Choice Honor Awards. Another Heaven, Another Earth received the Ohioana Award in 1982.
H.M. Hoover lived in Burke, Virginia. Her last published work was The Whole Truth - And Other Myths: Retelling Ancient Tales, in 1996.
Hoover changed her pen name to H.M. Hoover before Children came out because there was already a children's author named Helen Hoover.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 8, 2026
Interesting science fiction focused on academics excavating and investigating a planet and learning about some species that live there. This is the opposite of space opera, there's no threat (except to the environment of some of the species due to exploitation, but that's not immediate in context) and no power struggle or fight to survive or laser blasters.
August 7, 2019
Surprisingly immersive and thought provoking, this is one of my favorites by this author. Lian and the Lumpies are so endearing, you can’t help rooting for them. The planet Balthor is so atmospheric, you feel like you’re there on a little vacation to a foreign world. It’s a peaceful sort of book, and very interesting plot-wise, both because it’s so engaging and because its central plot is so unusual. It makes me want to write books this way. Short, sweet, sci-fi. The driving force of the book, the message, is inner growth—and the planet is the background to that. Masterful.
Hoover’s depiction of madness in her books is poignant and very sad. In This Time of Darkness, it’s people (“crazies”) who have forgotten they were people, and in this book it is some Toapa (lumpies) who have succumbed to madness from isolation and despair.
There is something everyday and realistic about this book, something you wouldn’t expect from a sci-fi world on a different planet. I never wanted it to end. I could read a couple more volumes at least.
Here are a few of my favorite selections, some because they were poignant, some because of the stellar descriptions, some because of what it made me think of. Enjoy:
‘The Counters calculated and scattered the ships, the life containers, as our wind scatters maple keys, and like those winged seeds, only a small number remained viable until new suns gave them world and water and time.’
‘It seemed to Lian that ninety-five percent of all this chatter was totally unnecessary and repetitious, that they were all talking in order to avoid thinking about what had really happened, that two of their number had come frighteningly near death in a manner they did not understand. She wondered if that was the source of most social noise the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered.’
‘Dr. Webster submitted to the exuberant hug, but Lian could feel the woman's body tighten as if there were a steel armature supporting that softness. The embrace was not quite returned; instead her mother lightly gripped Lian's arms, which made stepping away easier, more graceful, and the girl's clutch seem gauche. Dr. Webster was, her child would realize in years to come, an unconscious expert in the art of inflicting small disappointments.’
‘Things that needed feeling were not being felt; things that needed saying were not being said. They were going to be ignored again. Yet they were as real as starlight.’
‘These things had belonged to vital, intelligent creatures. Now all were artifacts, museum pieces to be analyzed by strangers. Their very discovery would limit their existence. That seemed wrong to her, this meddling in past lives one could never understand and only coarsen by interpretation.’
‘In the last room everything was small. Built-in shelves held toys, small lumpie dolls, spacecraft, mounted leaves and insects, and strange stuffed toy animals. Lian stood in the doorway, imagining the child who had lived here, who had tried to bring its small world along. Suddenly it all became very personal. It was as if she were seeing her own room and all the precious possessions she couldn't leave behind.
"Did they tell you that you weren't ever going back?" she whispered to the child across the years, remembering, never quite forgiving the fact that no one had told her. "Did you ever quit saying, ‘Let's go home now’? Or did you just whisper it inside yourself, too, when you finally figured out the truth and knew there was no hope?" And then she began to cry as a child cries, in great heartbroken sobs for which there is no comfort.
Afterward, when she could think again about that morning, about that child's room, she knew it had all in some way shifted time for her and ended her own childhood. When she entered here she had walked back into the past, her own as well as theirs, had seen it whole, unalterable, and gained understanding. By the time she could return to Earth a generation of Earth time would have passed. What she longed for would be gone. Things might remain, a house and garden, artifacts, but all who lived within that human past lived now only in her mind. Like the lumpies, she had to start from now, to keep and to use what was good from the past, and forget about the rest.’
Hoover’s depiction of madness in her books is poignant and very sad. In This Time of Darkness, it’s people (“crazies”) who have forgotten they were people, and in this book it is some Toapa (lumpies) who have succumbed to madness from isolation and despair.
There is something everyday and realistic about this book, something you wouldn’t expect from a sci-fi world on a different planet. I never wanted it to end. I could read a couple more volumes at least.
Here are a few of my favorite selections, some because they were poignant, some because of the stellar descriptions, some because of what it made me think of. Enjoy:
‘The Counters calculated and scattered the ships, the life containers, as our wind scatters maple keys, and like those winged seeds, only a small number remained viable until new suns gave them world and water and time.’
‘It seemed to Lian that ninety-five percent of all this chatter was totally unnecessary and repetitious, that they were all talking in order to avoid thinking about what had really happened, that two of their number had come frighteningly near death in a manner they did not understand. She wondered if that was the source of most social noise the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered.’
‘Dr. Webster submitted to the exuberant hug, but Lian could feel the woman's body tighten as if there were a steel armature supporting that softness. The embrace was not quite returned; instead her mother lightly gripped Lian's arms, which made stepping away easier, more graceful, and the girl's clutch seem gauche. Dr. Webster was, her child would realize in years to come, an unconscious expert in the art of inflicting small disappointments.’
‘Things that needed feeling were not being felt; things that needed saying were not being said. They were going to be ignored again. Yet they were as real as starlight.’
‘These things had belonged to vital, intelligent creatures. Now all were artifacts, museum pieces to be analyzed by strangers. Their very discovery would limit their existence. That seemed wrong to her, this meddling in past lives one could never understand and only coarsen by interpretation.’
‘In the last room everything was small. Built-in shelves held toys, small lumpie dolls, spacecraft, mounted leaves and insects, and strange stuffed toy animals. Lian stood in the doorway, imagining the child who had lived here, who had tried to bring its small world along. Suddenly it all became very personal. It was as if she were seeing her own room and all the precious possessions she couldn't leave behind.
"Did they tell you that you weren't ever going back?" she whispered to the child across the years, remembering, never quite forgiving the fact that no one had told her. "Did you ever quit saying, ‘Let's go home now’? Or did you just whisper it inside yourself, too, when you finally figured out the truth and knew there was no hope?" And then she began to cry as a child cries, in great heartbroken sobs for which there is no comfort.
Afterward, when she could think again about that morning, about that child's room, she knew it had all in some way shifted time for her and ended her own childhood. When she entered here she had walked back into the past, her own as well as theirs, had seen it whole, unalterable, and gained understanding. By the time she could return to Earth a generation of Earth time would have passed. What she longed for would be gone. Things might remain, a house and garden, artifacts, but all who lived within that human past lived now only in her mind. Like the lumpies, she had to start from now, to keep and to use what was good from the past, and forget about the rest.’
April 3, 2020
A meeting of minds
Yet another wonderful book by HM Hoover. I only read This Time of Darkness as a child and the story never left me. I didn't realise there were others! On to the next one...
Yet another wonderful book by HM Hoover. I only read This Time of Darkness as a child and the story never left me. I didn't realise there were others! On to the next one...
May 6, 2015
An old favorite from my childhood. Still makes me happy on the umpteenth reread.
November 7, 2025
A little difficult to parse, especially if read in short bits. But thought-provoking, and I would have enjoyed it very much when I was a young teen. I craved stimulating stories like this. Hoover does not underestimate the curiosity and thoughtfulness of youth & feed them simple adventures.
"She wondered if that was the source of most social noise - the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered."
"I was trying to be polite, to explain -."
"No. You were trying to be forgiven for bigotry."
"She wondered if that was the source of most social noise - the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered."
"I was trying to be polite, to explain -."
"No. You were trying to be forgiven for bigotry."
June 6, 2021
Such a wonderful, amazing story of a teen finding themselves . H M Hoover is my absolute favorite sci fi author.
.
.
December 31, 2021
The Lost Star by Helen Mary Hoover
Raised by emotionally distant astronomer parents at an observatory on an alien planet, fifteen-year-old earth-born Lian crashes her shuttle a thousand miles away during a routine supply run. She is found by an archaeologist from Earth who is there overseeing the excavation of a particularly mysterious site.
Among the seemingly native species, Lian discovers an immediate connection with a group of amiable hexapods whom the archeological team treat as harmless and rather stupid animals, even giving them the name "Lumpies".
Lian's empathetic bond with the Lumpies emboldens them to reveal to her a secret that they have been hiding for generations; a secret that will bring out the best and worst qualities of those in the archeological team when they are told about it.
When her mother finally finds the time to make the trip out to collect her, Lian for the first time finds the courage to defy the wishes of her parents and decides to stay on at the dig.
The author sets up a parallel between Lian's situation at the observatory (where she is not understood and given only the option of making astrophysics her future career) and the Lumpies predicament which necessitates concealing their intelligence in order to protect themselves and what belongs to them.
This time away from the observatory affords Lian opportunity to reconsider her priorities and plans for the future, which have hitherto been decided for her by others. In this way, Lian's experience has the essence of a coming-of-age story and a journey of self-discovery.
This is the second of Hoover's books I have read, and I found it very imaginative and absorbing. Having said that, I think that I enjoyed This Time of Darkness more, probably because it dealt with more adult themes and was more closely plotted. But I would certainly recommend The Lost Star for middle-grade readers and those who have an interest in science fiction literature aimed at children and young adults.
Here are some quotes from the book:
...the supernova, the fiery death of a distant sun. She was going to tell them that, then decided not to. People did not always appreciate raw facts—especially when they were engaged in making wishes.
She wondered if that was the source of most social noise—the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered.
"They'll overlook my secretiveness. But yours would be seen as an attempt to gain personal glory." "I see you are familiar with research personalities," Dr. Farr said. "Behind each dispassionate scientific mask lurks an egomaniac."
Was it because they suggested a human, with their big sad eyes, clown smile, and dumpy figure, that humans laughed at them? And if the humans laughed, then did that give other sentient species the freedom to express chauvinistic disdain for lumpies similar to the contempt they felt for humans but dared not express?
There was a definite comfort in the purity of astrophysics, she thought. There were no emotional elements. She suddenly understood more her parents' passion for their work. It shut out things like this ... it shut out the problems of normal life. And some of the joy.
Did you ever quit saying, 'Let's go home now'? Or did you just whisper it inside yourself, too, when you finally figured out the truth and knew there was no hope?
Afterward, when she could think again about that morning, about that child's room, she knew it had all in some way shifted time for her and ended her own childhood.
By the time she could return to Earth a generation of Earth time would have passed. What she longed for would be gone. Things might remain, a house and garden, artifacts, but all who lived within that human past lived now only in her mind.
Like the lumpies, she had to start from now, to keep and to use what was good from the past, and forget about the rest.
"I remember once my mother was holding my hand before I went back to sleep after a bad dream, and to comfort me she said. There in your small finger is an iron atom born in the death of a star. It passed through the gaseous clouds of space, whirled into and out of Earth's sun to Earth, passed through mountains and prehistoric seas, dinosaurs, a fish and a fisherman, the north wind, a rabbit, a river and steel and rust. It is immortal. We are all immortal atoms.'"
Raised by emotionally distant astronomer parents at an observatory on an alien planet, fifteen-year-old earth-born Lian crashes her shuttle a thousand miles away during a routine supply run. She is found by an archaeologist from Earth who is there overseeing the excavation of a particularly mysterious site.
Among the seemingly native species, Lian discovers an immediate connection with a group of amiable hexapods whom the archeological team treat as harmless and rather stupid animals, even giving them the name "Lumpies".
Lian's empathetic bond with the Lumpies emboldens them to reveal to her a secret that they have been hiding for generations; a secret that will bring out the best and worst qualities of those in the archeological team when they are told about it.
When her mother finally finds the time to make the trip out to collect her, Lian for the first time finds the courage to defy the wishes of her parents and decides to stay on at the dig.
The author sets up a parallel between Lian's situation at the observatory (where she is not understood and given only the option of making astrophysics her future career) and the Lumpies predicament which necessitates concealing their intelligence in order to protect themselves and what belongs to them.
This time away from the observatory affords Lian opportunity to reconsider her priorities and plans for the future, which have hitherto been decided for her by others. In this way, Lian's experience has the essence of a coming-of-age story and a journey of self-discovery.
This is the second of Hoover's books I have read, and I found it very imaginative and absorbing. Having said that, I think that I enjoyed This Time of Darkness more, probably because it dealt with more adult themes and was more closely plotted. But I would certainly recommend The Lost Star for middle-grade readers and those who have an interest in science fiction literature aimed at children and young adults.
Here are some quotes from the book:
...the supernova, the fiery death of a distant sun. She was going to tell them that, then decided not to. People did not always appreciate raw facts—especially when they were engaged in making wishes.
She wondered if that was the source of most social noise—the need to avoid thinking about what really mattered.
"They'll overlook my secretiveness. But yours would be seen as an attempt to gain personal glory." "I see you are familiar with research personalities," Dr. Farr said. "Behind each dispassionate scientific mask lurks an egomaniac."
Was it because they suggested a human, with their big sad eyes, clown smile, and dumpy figure, that humans laughed at them? And if the humans laughed, then did that give other sentient species the freedom to express chauvinistic disdain for lumpies similar to the contempt they felt for humans but dared not express?
There was a definite comfort in the purity of astrophysics, she thought. There were no emotional elements. She suddenly understood more her parents' passion for their work. It shut out things like this ... it shut out the problems of normal life. And some of the joy.
Did you ever quit saying, 'Let's go home now'? Or did you just whisper it inside yourself, too, when you finally figured out the truth and knew there was no hope?
Afterward, when she could think again about that morning, about that child's room, she knew it had all in some way shifted time for her and ended her own childhood.
By the time she could return to Earth a generation of Earth time would have passed. What she longed for would be gone. Things might remain, a house and garden, artifacts, but all who lived within that human past lived now only in her mind.
Like the lumpies, she had to start from now, to keep and to use what was good from the past, and forget about the rest.
"I remember once my mother was holding my hand before I went back to sleep after a bad dream, and to comfort me she said. There in your small finger is an iron atom born in the death of a star. It passed through the gaseous clouds of space, whirled into and out of Earth's sun to Earth, passed through mountains and prehistoric seas, dinosaurs, a fish and a fisherman, the north wind, a rabbit, a river and steel and rust. It is immortal. We are all immortal atoms.'"
Read
February 14, 2022As I was reading this, I was struck by the changes in tone in children's science fiction since 1979. And though the protagonist is 16, this *feels* like what would now be a middle-grade novel. There is no romance. No sex. The vibe is that of a book meant for elementary school aged readers, and that was certainly the age I first read HM Hoover (though not this book - this was my first pass through this one.)
In 2022, a lot of MG science fiction feels... angry. Adults are useless or oppressive. Society has failed. It's very despairing. This book is hopeful. While some people are indeed miserable, the culture as a whole is presented as basically good and a place the POV character would reasonably want to live in when she grows up. Different sentient species work together with awareness of and sensitivity to cultural differences. But it isn't naive. The narrator has a pretty clear view of the selfishness and egotism of academics, but their human failings are presented in more nuanced ways than the good/bad moral dichotomy I see in a lot of more recent books. I wonder if some of that comes from having a teenage narrator be the entry into a book instead of a child of 11 or 12.
The pacing is slower than more recent books, which can sometimes be frenetic. The stakes feel lower. The tone is more one of quiet wonder than a thriller.
All in all, an excellent, enjoyable read that is definitely out of date stylistically and tonally, and there's a point where the discovered civilization is classified as a colony and its inhabitants as colonials that may grate on some modern readers, but the themes (growing up, treating others with respect, not making assumptions about people based on appearance) don't feel dated at all.
In 2022, a lot of MG science fiction feels... angry. Adults are useless or oppressive. Society has failed. It's very despairing. This book is hopeful. While some people are indeed miserable, the culture as a whole is presented as basically good and a place the POV character would reasonably want to live in when she grows up. Different sentient species work together with awareness of and sensitivity to cultural differences. But it isn't naive. The narrator has a pretty clear view of the selfishness and egotism of academics, but their human failings are presented in more nuanced ways than the good/bad moral dichotomy I see in a lot of more recent books. I wonder if some of that comes from having a teenage narrator be the entry into a book instead of a child of 11 or 12.
The pacing is slower than more recent books, which can sometimes be frenetic. The stakes feel lower. The tone is more one of quiet wonder than a thriller.
All in all, an excellent, enjoyable read that is definitely out of date stylistically and tonally, and there's a point where the discovered civilization is classified as a colony and its inhabitants as colonials that may grate on some modern readers, but the themes (growing up, treating others with respect, not making assumptions about people based on appearance) don't feel dated at all.
January 12, 2026
I liked it; I've read the author before and I appreciate her work.
December 28, 2016
One of my favorite books. It draws me in and I love the characters and the plot.
January 19, 2019
Read in jail. Love it. Got information.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 29, 2008
A young woman suddenly stranded on a backwater world near an extra-terrestrial archaeological digwith a team of scientists must rethink her priorities and her plans for the future when a mysterious group of alien creatures, the enigmatic animals called "Lumpies", try to communicate with her. With her parents delaying her rescue for the moment, she delves into the complexities surrounding the dig team and the lumpies.
December 22, 2009
Clever, innocent, and full of wonder. Who has ever dreamed of discovering an alien civilization?
November 27, 2014
1989 grade A-
Teen novel
Teen novel
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