Discover the Stars (Kids Can Read) - Softcover

Bill Slavin is an award-winning children's book illustrator with over 50 books to his credit. His works include Stanley's Party and The Bear on the Bed. He lives in Millbrook, Ontario.

Gr. 1-3. Notwithstanding its babyish cover artwork and absent end matter, this Kids Can Read beginning reader offers a sound introduction for young stargazers. As in Nicolson's other series entries, chapters are broken into segments introduced by boldface questions ("How far away are the stars?"), followed by explanations peppered with colorful facts ("If you flew in a jet plane from the Sun, it would take you 18 years to reach Earth"). While sentences appear in paragraphs rather than the broken lines more typical of easy readers, their structure remains appropriately simple, and illustrations, both small-but-impressive NASA photos and Slavin's contrastingly drab watercolors, amplify the text throughout. Children who wish to take the concluding challenge to "find the Big Dipper or Orion's belt" may be unable to do so without more practical guidance, but the numerous quotable facts should be sufficient reward for most newly independent readers. Many will want to graduate to the publisher's Starting with Space series, from the same author and illustrator, or to Seymour Simon's classic space books. Jennifer Mattson
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