Navigate Your Stars
Written by Jesmyn Ward
Narrated by Jesmyn Ward
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
For Tulane University’s 2018 commencement, Jesmyn Ward delivered a stirring speech about the value of hard work and the importance of respect for oneself and others. Speaking about the challenges she and her family overcame, Ward inspired everyone in the audience with her meditation on tenacity in the face of hardship. Ward’s moving words will inspire readers as they prepare for the next chapter in their lives, whether, like Ward, they are the first in their families to graduate from college or are preceded by generations, or whether they are embarking on a different kind of journey later in life.
Beautifully illustrated in full color by Gina Triplett, this gorgeous and profound book will charm a generation of students—and their parents. Ward’s inimitable voice shines through as she shares her experience as a Southern black woman and addresses the themes of grit, adversity, and the importance of family bonds. Navigate Your Stars is a perfect gift for anyone in need of inspiration from the author of Salvage the Bones, Men We Reaped, and Sing, Unburied, Sing.
Jesmyn Ward
Jesmyn Ward received her MFA from the University of Michigan and is currently a professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She is the author of the novels Where the Line Bleeds and Salvage the Bones, which won the 2011 National Book Award, and Sing, Unburied, Sing, which won the 2017 National Book Award. She is also the editor of the anthology The Fire This Time and the author of the memoir Men We Reaped, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. From 2008-2010, Ward had a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. She was the John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi for the 2010-2011 academic year. In 2016, the American Academy of Arts and Letters selected Ward for the Strauss Living Award. She lives in Mississippi.
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Reviews for Navigate Your Stars
182 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is a beautiful reminder by Jesmyn regarding life’s beauty in arriving at your destination despite the hardships we endure.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inspirational, even for this white male who is retired. Retirement and aging well is also demanding.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely clear and direct. Great advice and informative, insightful and inspiring
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A co-worker of mine introduced me to Ms Ward. I'm so very thankful I've found her
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesmyn Ward's message inspired me, as intended, even though many moons have crossed the sky since graduation. Thank you. Be well.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was great because it follows the trials and tribulations of life. Giving a grit fueled and powered perspective of life. Truly powerful.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely short story of how perseverance and the shoulders of our ancestors on which we stand , are essential in achieving your life's purpose.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesmyn keep going, you have a gift the world is waiting to receive. Excellent message.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A short but powerful book based on Ward’s 2018 commencement speech at Tulane University. It underscores the importance of both determination and family. It also offers beautiful illustrations done by Gina Triplett. I received this book as an arc in exchange for my honest review.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Navigate Your Stars, Jesmyn WardHaving read several books by this author, I eagerly looked forward to reading her latest brief, but very poignant, beautifully illustrated, inspirational book. I received an uncorrected proof which I immediately sat down and read. I was not disappointed.The prose is easy to read, her suggestions are common sense and her background is similar to mine in many ways. I am sure there are many others who will also identify with her experiences and her advice. The environment in which my family lived was hostile for religious and other reasons. Jesmyn Ward’s environment was hostile for racial and economic reasons. Her parents, like mine, encouraged her to work hard to get ahead; to do this, she, like I, was told to “go to college”. Some doors were closed to us, some remain closed today. I found it inspiring that we had so much in common, especially with regard to a philosophy of life that was imparted to us by our parents. Jesmyn gives the reader a more considered piece of advice than our parents gave us. She advises that after we work hard, we should keep working hard, we should not give up. If we don’t succeed, we should persist, have patience and keep trying. I think it is great advice from a great author!Also, I think this book can show the world that race and creed are not the roadblocks to unity that we make them. We actually might have far more in common if we stopped and truly got to know each other. In the current political environment, it is really good advice to keep on trying!