Sammy is a star born into a world of moons. When Mama Moon tries to help him fit in, his sparkle begins to fade… until she discovers that the bravest thing a mama can do is love her little star exactly as he is.
Ages 3–8 · 26 pages, full colour · Paperback $14.99 · Hardcover $21.99
★★★★★ 5.0 on Amazon
Everyone has brand new comet-trail bikes — everyone except Sammy, who thinks bikes are dumb. (He is maybe, possibly, just a little bit afraid.)
Scaredy Cat Sammy was inspired by a raven I named Braveheart. I started tossing leftovers to an unkindness of ravens during a particularly harsh winter. The ravens were very cautious to approach — hungry, but scared. The scrawniest one, the one I named Braveheart, weighed the risks and decided to go for it. Braveheart went first every time — and the others followed.
I still feed the ravens, and he is still the bravest of them all. Braveheart taught me that the bravest ones are simply the first to try.
And keep your eyes open… a little black cat hides on every page.
Ages 3–8 · Paperback $14.99
Inspired by my Granny, who loved to sing but was terrible at it. Someone at church commented on her tone-deaf warbling, and she stopped singing — for years. Then, gradually, she began to sing to herself in the kitchen. Her singing had not improved one bit — but that warbling, off-key voice lit her up, and she lit up everyone around her.
Happy people make people happy.
Ages 3–8 · Paperback $14.99
A story about owning up to mistakes, even when it's hard — and especially when nobody saw. Broken things can be mended or replaced, but your word and your honor are yours to keep.
At the back of the book, kids learn about kintsugi — the Japanese art of mending broken things with gold.
Ages 3–8 · Paperback $14.99
One more Sammy story is on the way — here is a little taste of Sammy Star’s Hard Good Day.
Inspired by my own children. When my son started kindergarten, the big days wore him out — being on your best behavior all day is hard — and by each afternoon he had nothing left for the little sister who had waited all day for him to come home. When I gently told him he needed to be good to her too, he broke down in tears: “But Mama, I have used up all my good!”
That sentence stuck — and it became this book. It also introduces Luna, Sammy's little sister, who adores her big brother and happily shares her own good when he runs out of his own.

Sammy Star began as a story told out loud to my own children at bedtime, and he never really left. Years later I wrote him down, exactly as he was — a different, pointy, sparkly little star in a world of soft round moons.
Five Sammy books are planned, each one helping little ones with something big: loving who they are, being brave when they’re scared, telling the truth when it’s hard, calming big feelings, and doing what makes them happy no matter what others think.
I write and publish from Palmer, Alaska, under my own imprint, Sparkle North Star Books.
Sammy Star is available through Ingram under standard library and trade wholesale terms, and through Baker & Taylor, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.
| Title | Sammy Star |
| Author | Jo Lee |
| ISBN-13 (paperback) | 979-8-9972876-1-0 |
| ISBN-13 (hardcover) | 979-8-9972876-0-3 |
| Publisher / Imprint | Sparkle North Star Books |
| Format | 8 × 10 in · 26 pages · full colour |
| Audience | Ages 3–8 · PreK–Grade 2 |
Join the Sammy Star list and get two free printables right away: a 9-page Sammy Star Coloring Book and a Brave Star Pledge certificate your little one can sign and color. Five Sammy books are on the way — I’ll send one short note when each new book comes out, and nothing else, ever.
Want something to print right now? Three more free sheets — a moon phases colouring page, a Sammy maze and a “What Makes YOU Shine?” worksheet — with no email needed.
Free printables →For library orders, school visits, review copies, or just to tell me your little star's favourite page:
Jo Lee · P.O. Box 775, Palmer, AK 99645