Sun

How hot is the sun? What is it made of? How long would it take to get there? This fun and fact-filled book answers these questions and many more. Following the lead of two kids and a purple cat, children learn about sunspots and solar flares, see how the sun creates night and day and seasons, and learn how the sun warms the planet Earth. The engaging gouache artwork shows the Earth's place in the solar system, scientists studying the sun through special telescopes, and the bounty of life on Earth nurtured by the heat-giving rays of our own shining star. A simple hands-on experiment demonstrating how the Earth orbits the sun completes this gentle introduction to astronomy.

Children's Literature

The bright yellow endpapers are a great way to start this book that provides basic information about the sun, the biggest and brightest star in our sky. Without the sun and our specific location in the solar system, most things would not be able to live on our beautiful planet. A lucid text explains what the sun is comprised of, how far away it is and how big it is. Presented in a way that that is entertaining, some of the comparisons will stick with us for a long time—the sun is 93 million miles away, which equates to driving a car at 60 miles per hour without stopping for 177 years. Tomecek describes how the earth spins on an axis and rotates around the sun, which explains why we have day and night and the seasons, as well as why certain seasons are warm and others are cold. The book does not mention the seasonal difference between northern and southern hemispheres specifically, but the information can be gleaned from the illustrations. Golembe has used a bright pallet with warm colors against a mostly blue or black sky for contrast. She adds elements and a bit of humor to the text including a pink striped cat that appears throughout. For curious kids, homeschoolers and science teachers, there is an easy experiment at the end of the book that can be used to demonstrate why we have day and night. This book could be paired with The Sun by Robin Kerrod (Lerner Publications, 2000), The Sun by Allison Lassieur (Children's Press, 2000) The Sun by Niki Walker (Crabtree Pub, 2000) and The Sun by Ray Spangenburg and Kit Mose (Watts, 2001), the last three of which would be for older readers. 2002, National Geographic, $16.95. Ages 5 to 9. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot AGES: 5 6 7 8 9