Summary

Stella by Starlight is an historical novel written by Susan M. Draper. The narrator only has access to the thoughts and feelings of the main character, Stella Mills.

In 1: Flames Across the Water, nine Klu Klux Klan members burn a cross in the middle of an October night in 1932. Across Kilkenny Pond, Stella Mills and her younger brother Jojo hide in bushes and watch the ritual. Stella understands the immediate danger, but Jojo is curious and confused, forcing Stella to explain the Klan to him. Stella hears some nearby horses and notices that one of them wears a harness that “sparkles in the dark” (3). Scared, Stella grabs Jojo and they run home.

In 2: Swift and Silent, Stella, Jojo, and their parents sit around “the only table in the house” (4). After returning home from the pond, Stella...