Common Sense Media Review
By Lucinda Dyer
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Terrific mix of history, mystery, brave teen characters.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
UNDER THE SAME STARS weaves together the stories of six teenagers across 80 years. It begins on a winter night in 1941. Best friends Sophie and Hanna have come to the forest outside of their small town in Germany to retrieve an envelope hidden deep in an old oak tree when they hear "something" coming. The story then moves to 1980, as high school junior Jenny moves with her family from Dallas to a Berlin still divided into West and East. For Jenny, this is a time of discovery and rebellion against the very proper girl her parents expect her to be. Exploring the city on her own, she meets Lena, who plays in a punk rock band and offers to show Jenny the "real" Berlin. It's not long before Jenny secretly joins the band and begins a sexual relationship with Lena. Jenny learns about Sophie and Hanna's disappearance from Frau Hermann, her family's elderly neighbor, who grew up in the same village. In 2020, high school seniors Miles and Chloe are living in Brooklyn and enduring COVID lockdown. When Chloe's grandmother sends her a scrapbook with a newspaper clipping about the mysterious disappearance in 1944 of two friends named Sophie and Hanna, they decide to try to discover what happened to the girls. As Miles and Chloe uncover more and more clues, readers will follow Sophie and Hanna through the war years as they join the resistance and as their friends and neighbors make life-changing decisions about supporting or resisting the Nazis. Finally, the mystery is solved and an unexpected connection between Sophie, Hanna, Jenny, Miles, and Chloe is revealed.
Is It Any Good?
This mix of vividly told history and a decades old mystery is filled with hidden clues, unexpected connections, and a cast of inspiring teen characters. Almost any reader will be able to identify with the struggles and challenges faced by the teenagers in Under the Same Stars: Chloe and Miles enduring lockdown and remote learning (and even a remote prom) and Jenny finally learning to feel positive about her body and her sexuality. Young activists are certain to be inspired by Sophie, Hanna, and their friends.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the courage Sophie, Hanna, and their friends showed in Under the Same Stars. Why do some people stay silent when confronted by tyranny and others put their lives at risk to fight against it?
What lessons we can learn from history? Or is the past simply the past and nothing to do with our lives today?
Is there bigotry or prejudice in your community that people should be speaking out against?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Mystery
- Topics : Activism , Friendship , History
- Character Strengths : Courage
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Publication date : February 4, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 13 - 17
- Number of pages : 467
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate