posted on 29 Feb 2024

Chasing the Stars by Siobhan Curham

This is the fourth story in the Moonlight Dreamers series about four teenage girls who find solace in sharing their problems and positive plans for the future. I haven’t read the previous three titles but this one provides a clear context that explains how the very different personalities have now established a strong connection that helps them all through some difficult times.

Jazz is originally from Australia and has found it difficult to adjust to living in England. We are introduced to her experiencing the all-too-familiar excruciating embarrassment of a parent who is behaving in a way that draws attention. She is on a family holiday in Cornwall where her dad is performing at an open mic night that she describes as ‘watching a midlife crisis with an air guitar.’

But he is in the music business and makes contact the same evening with the very attractive River, a talented young musician and Jazz is smitten. When her dad invites him to spend some time visiting their home, she knows that she will be able to get to know him better and begins to dream.

Meanwhile, Hope is spending half term with her older sister, Megan who is at Manchester University. She had been really looking forward to this taste of an alternative life, but it is a major disappointment because Megan has an obsession with an underwhelming boyfriend, Beano. If only she could wish him away and get her sister back as she used to be, she would be so relieved.

Allegra is having a great holiday in Spain staying with her grandmother who lives there. Things become even more enjoyable and intriguing when she meets with her grandmother’s close friend who lives in an artistic and environmentally friendly commune in what looks like ‘a real- life Hobbit house’ where they spend some time. She is inspired to play her own part in saving the planet when she returns home.

Portia has stayed at home in London and been spending time creating her graphic novel and is thrilled to meet one of her all-time author heroes at a book signing event. He is friendly and charismatic so when he gives her the chance to apply for a writing mentorship scheme, she is bowled over with excitement. Could her dream of becoming a published author of a graphic novel come true?

After the holiday break, the four meet up to share their experiences and how these have shaped their latest dreams for the future. The little society has its own rules and rituals including chanting the well- known quotation from Oscar Wilde:

‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars’. 

I am not going to reveal whether all their dreams are realised in quite the way that they hope because you will want to find out for yourselves. I liked the way I which the four girls’ complicated stories weave around and complement one another. I would imagine that young readers will identify with particular characters and be interested in how their story unfolds. The eventful story gives a taste of being a teenager with passions and romantic attractions alongside having to navigate everyday problems with family, school and unsavoury people in the wider world - always exhausting. Having a reliable group of loyal friends will always help.     

This very readable book celebrates the importance of friendship without being sentimental. Published by Walker Books, it can be obtained from your local independent bookshop- who will be glad to order it for you if they don’t have copies on the shelf

Karen Argent

March 2024