From the award-winning author of Banana Heart Summer[a] wonderful debut[that] resembles Sandra Cisneross The House on Mango Street and is destined to be a hit among book club members*comes a wondrous tale of hope, secrets, and family devotion.Its six days until Christmas, and on the bustling streets of Manila a mute ten-year-old boy sells his version of the stars: exquisite lanterns handmade with colorful paper. But everything changes for young Noland when he witnesses an American tourist injured in a drive-by shooting of a journalist and imagines hes seen an angel falling from the sky. When Noland whisks her to the safety of the hut he shares with his mother, the magical and the real collide: shimmering lanterns and poverty, Christmas carols and loss, dreams of friendship and the global war on terror. While the story of the missing tourist grips the media, Noland and his mother care for their wounded guest, and a dark memory returns. But light sneaks inand their lives are transformed by the power of love. *Library Journal ( starred review, Editors Pick)From the Trade Paperback edition.