

Wallace “Lolly” Rachpaul has been in a tailspin after Jermaine’s death, alienated from his Trinidadian parents and thinking of joining his brother’s old gang for protection. Because of this interest, I was particularly eager to read David Barclay Moore’s debut middle grade novel The Stars Beneath Our Feet, which portrays a 12-year-old boy in Harlem using Lego to confront his grief after his older brother’s violent death and to reach out to an isolated homeschooled girl who attends the same afterschool program.

For many years I’ve been a Lego builder, creating a town with a combination of Lego kits and buildings of my own design that fit in with the classic appearance of the Modular themes.
