James GladstoneCritiques

Gentle full-spread illustrations tell Halley's story, from the point of view of the comet, starting from humanity's past, journeying into our future. Simple sparse text is supplemented with historical notes in the illustrations that document different cultures' responses to the comet and the years it was seen and noted in historical record, to current understanding of the comet as seen by telescope and spacecraft. Back matter includes a note from the author about his experience seeing Halley's comet and his inspiration for the book, plus scientific notes on the structure and appearance of comets.

Large trim size and heavy weight, matte pages give this book satisfying heft that lends its self well to a centuries-old history. Full-bleed art in a bright, sophisticated color palette add to the experience. An unfortunate choice is the use of straight lines to depict the eyes of people in crowd scenes as they gaze up at the supernova; the history features many scenes set in China, and while the illustrator uses this shorthand for humans of different ethnicities, the choice reinforces stereotypes in the many scenes where groups of Asian people are depicted.

Coming back in 2061

lyrical, delicious, snowy story

A book about the Apollo 8 photo of the Earth rising in the window of the space capsule.

This lovely book for readers 3 and up featuring lyrical prose and gorgeous watercolors is all the more interesting and appealing for focusing only on a father, a child of indeterminate gender, and their dog. Together they spend the day in a snowy city. They start out by joining others in the street, with all the“trudging, huffing creatures” moving “at the sluggish speed of snow.”

One can imagine fully the winterscape so evocatively painted by both the talented author and illustrator:

“My winter city is a soup of salty slushes, full of sliding buses
splashing, spraying, sploshing, soaking walkers on the sidewalk.”

At the park, the three tackle the “big icy sled hills” surrounded by “towers that rise up through far-away skies.” Afterwards, the child muses:

“An icicle factory, that’s my winter city,
All sizes, all pointing straight down to the ground,
Where we take our rest on light powder pillows
As heavy thunder plow beasts scrape and clunk.”

“My winter city is an afternoon journey
Past sidewalk singers in shivery shadows,
Past winter workers with hot steaming chocolate,
Past rows of locked bicycles, buried and waiting…..”

Illustrator Gary Clement packs detail into his pictures, such as a scene on the bus, where one rider is on a smartphone, one is reading an e-book, a little girl in a cat hat admires their dog, and so on. The pictures are colorful and clever, and children will spent hours picking out the details.

Evaluation: This book is filled with warmth, in spite of its snowy setting. I loved the poetry, and I enjoyed perusing the artwork for all the hidden surprises, including family scenes in apartment building windows, and the ways in which building lights varied in shape, size, and brightness. All together a feast for both the eyes and ears!½

Very short picture book about famous Earth photo from Apollo 8 mission

Beautiful pictures and almost poetically written this books is grounded in solid science. Looks at the beginnings of planet earth to humans evolution. Great book to examine the idea that most history is pre his story. Good for K-5th grade.

This is a very interesting look at the Earthrise photo, the first photo of the earth rising above the moon. The photo was taken from Apollo 8, the first US astronauts to go (not land) to the moon. The narrator is both omnipresent and represented by a little girl. It talks about how amazed people were, and how this one photo helped people truly realize that we are one earth, and one people, without real walls and borders. I like the idea behind this story and think it was executed really well. The illustrations harked back to 1968 with their soft crayon feel, almost like visual static. Overall, a great addition to any classic.

A long poem accompanies the illustrations throughout this book, with 5-10 lines per page; every 5 lines ends with the words "turtle pond." Full-page illustrations are soft and realistic, and an author's note at the end includes some facts about turtles.

This did not captivate my 2.5yo, but that's not a reflection on the book's quality. Nice for a quiet one-on-one read with someone who loves turtles.

This book is a great tool to use as a tool to determine importance. Students may be able to identify important facts from the reading as well as the illustrations.
Grades: 2-3