Sun
ISBN 1 84138 051 2
Keywords Astronomy, Science, Children
There are plenty of decent astronomy books (not to mention videos, CD‐ROMs and other multimedia products) of all types and for all educational levels, but interest in the subject seems as constant as the new stream of information discovered about different planets and other celestial objects (and not to mention the stream of theories deriving from that). We need to be constantly up‐dated with this new information, so new titles in the field have a pretty constant justification. “Stunningly illustrated” the blurb says, and unusually for once the illustrator is named and credited: true enough, although these two volumes actually offer much more, in particular their outstanding texts. Coverage is broad: from the history of man’s reaction to and observation of the sun and moon, and knowledge of our own planet, to detailed science of solar and planetary physics (not actually called that ‐ no need to scare off your readers) as far as they can be appreciated and in terms understandable by eight‐ to 11‐year‐olds. The author has previously won a Copus prize for best junior science book.
There is plenty of information, presented in short sections and both attractively and (more importantly) clearly illustrated, all within a good consistent overall design. Each volume is completed by a “Time Line” (chronology of our developing knowledge of each subject), lists of data (“Nothing but the Facts”), glossary and index. All comes together in a new series of volumes likely to catch and hold the interest in classroom, home, or school library, as well as satisfy the curiosity of those children already interested in astronomy. This is another excellent children’s reference series from Belitha Press.
