Exploring The Night Sky

Exploring The Night Sky: The Equinox Astronomy Guide For Beginners

Author: Terence Dickinson

Principal Illustrations: John Bianchi

Genre: Informational

Grades: 4-6

Have you ever wondered what you would find in outer space if you could travel through it? Have you ever wondered how big space is? In this book Exploring The Night Sky you will discover the answers to these questions and many other questions you may have.

This book contains many different short narratives that cover a variety of different topics that are related to space. Such topics include what can be found 1.3 light seconds from earth or 300,000,000 light years from earth, the planets in our solar system, black holes, how stars end their lives, how to recognize planets, constellations, and stars. It also gives information about telescopes. There are many more narratives that are included in this book; these are just a few examples. Each page contains a picture or photo to illustrate what the author is talking about in the narrative. The pictures that are used throughout the book are a mix of real photos and illustrations, but the pictures that have been illustrated look very real and make the book more interesting to read. Also there are foot notes that are included that give facts that are related to the pictures that are shown, and help explain the illustrations better.

This type of a book is an example of an informational book. Informational books are non-fiction and present facts that are found in the real world rather than made up stories. When informational books are mentioned they are often thought of as boring, but the illustrations in this book were well thought out and are what will attract readers. Students can look at the illustrations until they find one that interests them, and read the narrative that belongs with it. The pages in this book can be read in any order the reader chooses since the narrative do not form one complete story. Also, if a reader is not interested in reading the whole narrative, they can choose to read the footnotes and still learn new information about our universe. Footnotes may also help readers determine if that particular narrative is worth reading.

I will definitely use this book in my classroom library as a resource if students need to look up information about the elements of the universe. This book is also introducing the ideas of chapters. This book is broken down into three sections. Each section is color coded rather than numbered. There is a content page that is located in the front of the book, as well as a glossary that is located in the back of the book. If students ever need to be taught how to use the table of contents, or a glossary, this book would be a good one to use.