{"id":547851,"date":"2026-04-22T11:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harrisburgnewsnow.com\/news\/story\/547851\/this-earth-day-the-stars-are-always-there-invites-young-readers-to-listen-to-the-land-and-find-their-voice.html"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:03:11","slug":"this-earth-day-the-stars-are-always-there-invites-young-readers-to-listen-to-the-land-and-find-their-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/story\/547851\/this-earth-day-the-stars-are-always-there-invites-young-readers-to-listen-to-the-land-and-find-their-voice.html","title":{"rendered":"This Earth Day, The Stars Are Always There Invites Young Readers to Listen to the Land &#8211; and Find Their Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><img style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalnewslines.com\/uploads\/2026\/04\/693ac63288bde238468cf260d3e9ef4d.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>WASHINGTON &#8211; April 22, 2026 &#8211;<\/strong> As Earth Day highlights the importance of caring for the natural world, <em>The Stars Are Always There<\/em>, a middle\u2011grade literary novel by Jaime Maria Merrill, offers young readers a story centered on listening&mdash;to land, community, and conscience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Set on the arid high plains of the Texas Panhandle, the novel follows twelve\u2011year\u2011old Jess Lindsey as she spends a summer on her great\u2011grandfather&rsquo;s ranch during a deepening drought. As wells run dry and tensions rise over water use, Jess begins to notice subtle but meaningful changes in the world around her: animals behaving differently, the prairie growing quieter, the land feeling strained.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Rather than presenting environmental challenges through technical or policy lenses, <em>The Stars Are Always There<\/em> approaches water stewardship through story. Blending realism with a light touch of magic, the book invites readers to consider how awareness grows&mdash;and how courage often begins with paying attention.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">&ldquo;A thoughtful, evocative story that gently invites young readers to consider courage, responsibility, and connection to the land,&rdquo; wrote <em>The Prairies Book Review<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Author Jaime Maria Merrill describes the story as one written for children who feel quiet or unseen. &ldquo;Earth Day reminds us that care begins with attention,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Jess learns that speaking up doesn&rsquo;t require being the loudest voice&mdash;it begins with listening and choosing courage when it matters.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><em>The Stars Are Always There<\/em> is available wherever books are sold. An Earth Day essay by the author discussing the inspiration behind the novel can be found at <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jaimeswords.com\/media\">www.jaimeswords.com\/media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"caps\"><span style='font-size:18px !important'>Media Contact<\/span><br \/><strong>Company Name:<\/strong> Murmuration LLC<br \/><strong>Contact Person:<\/strong> Jaime Maria Merrill<br \/><strong>Email:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href='http:\/\/www.universalpressrelease.com\/?pr=this-earth-day-the-stars-are-always-there-invites-young-readers-to-listen-to-the-land-and-find-their-voice'>Send Email<\/a><br \/><strong>City:<\/strong> Reston<br \/><strong>State:<\/strong> VA<br \/><strong>Country:<\/strong> United States<br \/><strong>Website:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/jaimeswords.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/jaimeswords.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.getnews.info\/press_stat.php?pr=this-earth-day-the-stars-are-always-there-invites-young-readers-to-listen-to-the-land-and-find-their-voice\" alt=\"\" width=\"1px\" height=\"1px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON &#8211; April 22, 2026 &#8211; As Earth Day highlights the importance of caring for the natural world, The Stars Are Always There, a middle\u2011grade literary novel by Jaime Maria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547851"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.honolulunewsnow.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}