Clara’s Verdict
Superstar sends Stella chasing a very modern dream, a part on her favourite television show, and the eighth Stella Batts book gets a lot of gentle mileage out of the gap between how we imagine a moment will go and how it actually turns out. Courtney Sheinmel is on sure ground with a story about hope, rehearsal and disappointment.
There is something quietly wise in the setup. Stella is spotted by a casting director, told she is perfect for the role, and rehearses her lines until she knows them by heart, and of course the audition refuses to follow the script in her head. Watching a confident child meet a setback she did not see coming is both funny and genuinely instructive, and Sheinmel handles it without a scrap of cruelty.
By this point in the series the pleasures are well established, and Superstar delivers them with a slightly bigger dream at its centre. It is a warm, encouraging read about wanting something badly and learning to weather the outcome.
About the Audiobook
Superstar is the eighth book in Courtney Sheinmel’s Stella Batts series. Stella is in third grade, she wants to be a writer, and her parents own a wonderful candy shop, so life ought to be good, and now she is back and ready to write her eighth book about her very favourite subject, which is her own life.
In Superstar, Stella gets the chance to audition for her favourite television programme, Superstar Sam, after a casting director spots her out at dinner with her family and declares her perfect for the role. She rehearses her lines until she knows the part by heart, while her little sister Penny looks on with some jealousy, because sometimes older sisters get to do things younger ones cannot. But the audition does not go as planned. Stella was certain the part was hers, and now she must wonder whether she will ever get the chance to show what she can do, or to meet her favourite actress. It is a story about ambition, sibling feeling and coping when things fall short of the dream.
The audition premise gives Sheinmel a lovely vehicle for a lesson every child eventually meets, that wanting something with your whole heart does not guarantee you will get it. Stella’s confidence, her diligent rehearsing and Penny’s jealous sidelong glances are all sharply observed, and the disappointment, when it comes, is handled with real tenderness. The book never pretends the setback does not sting, but it holds out the reassurance that a knock like this is survivable. That honesty, delivered without a trace of cynicism, is what lifts it above a simple wish fulfilment story.
The Narration
The Stella Batts books take beautifully to audio, and a story about an audition may be the most audio-friendly of the lot. These are first-person tales told in Stella’s own eager voice, and hearing that voice aloud brings out the wide-eyed, confiding quality that makes her such likeable company. A tale full of rehearsed lines and nervy anticipation naturally suits being heard.
The pleasure of the series in this format is its immediacy. Stella narrates her hopes and disappointments straight to the listener, as though sharing them across the kitchen table, and that closeness is exactly the register the books were written in. The result is an easy, absorbing listen for a young audience, with a satisfying emotional arc that carries a child from Stella’s soaring confidence through her setback and gently out the other side.
A tale about performance naturally rewards being performed, and the series’ first-person voice is well suited to carrying Stella from breathless anticipation to the deflation of a dream deferred. Heard aloud, her rehearsed lines and nervy hopes gain an immediacy the page cannot quite match, and the emotional turn lands more softly for being spoken by a voice a child already trusts. It is the kind of short, well-shaped listen a young audience can absorb in one sitting, following Stella’s ups and downs without ever losing the thread.
What Readers Say
Superstar holds a healthy average of 4.6 stars across 197 ratings, comfortably in line with the affection the series commands. The reviews are the usual warm mixture of children who adore Stella and adults reading happily alongside them, and one grandparent described the lovely ritual of reading a chapter together after supper, with siblings drifting over to eavesdrop.
A recurring note is how sad readers are that the series is finite, with one family confessing they were nearly finished and dreading the end. Others praise the books simply as the right fit for a particular child, and one reviewer even recalled the author visiting their school and winning over a room of young readers. It is loyal, personal praise, the kind a series earns only over many happy instalments.
Who Should Listen?
Superstar suits children of about six to nine, and it will resonate especially with any child who has set their heart on something and had to face it not working out. As the eighth book it naturally rewards series regulars, though the audition story is self-explanatory enough to enjoy without the earlier volumes.
If you want an encouraging, kind-hearted story about big dreams and gentle disappointments, this one fits the bill, and you can Listen to Superstar on Audible to share it with your young listener.
