In this nonfiction book, young readers will learn what makes a star and how those stars form pairs, groups, clusters, and galaxies. The stories of seven constellations, each easily found in the night sky, are also included.

Readers [ages eight and up] can turn their bedrooms into a planetarium using the removable glow-in-the-dark stars included with this book. Shining a flashlight through each of the special projection pages will create a constellation pattern showing the proper placement of the stars.

This book is certain to delight young readers who are interested in science, space, or astronomy.

Highly recommended. ( )

#98, 2004

I bought this book at the local planetarium, to assist me in putting up glow-star constellations in my son's bedroom. In the back of the book are tear-out cards with holes punched in them in the shapes of constellations, so all you have to do is shine a filtered flashlight behind them, and then put the stars on the ceiling where the light shines through. Since I've been having a bit of difficulty getting the constellations the way I want them on my own, I thought this book would be helpful. Plus, it comes with glow stars, including some medium-sized ones that I needed, but hadn't been able to find anywhere else. So, I bought the book for purely practical purposes, but was pleased to discover that it's filled with lots of cool information about astronomy, as well, all written in a humorous tone for young people. It touches on physics, and the origins of the universe, and it has not only the stories behind the seven western constellations that are featured on the punch cards in the back, but it also tells some of the stories that people in other cultures told about those same stars. ( )