Kirkus calls The Stars Will Be My Nightlight "a tender tale of love and traditions. Halpern mixes simple, descriptive syntax with striking imagery, providing young readers with a clear understanding of the characters’ loving relationship and their Jewish identity. Fedele presents the characters in large-scale close-ups with lush landscapes surrounding them and incorporates details not in the text that enlarge and enhance the tale."

The Association of Jewish Libraries has named The Stars Will Be My Nightlight a Fall 2022 Holiday Highlight. "Rich, atmospheric illustrations depict a mother and son who decide to spend the night in their backyard sukkah. The quiet cadence renders this book equally effective as a calming bedtime story and a celebration of connecting to nature and religious tradition in the sukkah."

Dena Bach of The Sydney Taylor Shmooze says, "This fine bedtime story by educator and first-time author Jen Halpern begins with a mother and her young son talking about the meaning of the holiday of Sukkot as they make decorations for their sukkah. After the boy convinces his reluctant mother to spend the night in the sukkah, Halpern uses the tradition of saying the Sh’ma prayer before bedtime to add a spiritual side to the narrative. While the narrative centers on the relationship between mother and son, the history and traditions of Sukkot are deftly explained through the words and pictures . . . Adding a mystical quality to the narrative are Chiara Fedele’s illustrations, suffused with so many different kinds of light, from the setting and rising sun, to the electric lights in the sukkah, to the fireflies and stars as night falls."

Paula Chaiken of the Jewish Book Council says the story "is a sweet tale of a lit­tle boy’s love for the Jew­ish har­vest fes­ti­val, Sukkot. He and his moth­er spend pre­cious time in their sukkah, a tem­po­rary shel­ter that Jews build each year to com­mem­o­rate their people’s wan­der­ing in the desert after they left Egypt for their new homes in the Land of Israel . . . With its lyri­cal lan­guage and soft illus­tra­tions, this pic­ture book is the per­fect bed­time sto­ry, invit­ing par­ents to cud­dle up with their lit­tle ones and cher­ish spe­cial time and tra­di­tions together."

Tablet Magazine has named The Stars Will Be My Nightlight one of the Best Jewish Children's Books of 2022. "The Stars Will Be My Nightlight: A Sukkot Story is a simple, tender tale of a sukkah sheltering a mother and son from the elements—and of the mother sheltering her son as well. When the mother points out that the boy can’t have his nightlight in the sukkah, he utters the title phrase. But be warned: Children who hear this book will undoubtedly request that they sleep in their sukkahs as well."

Read Chiara Fedele's chat with Let's Talk Picture Books to learn more about her process.