A Journey Through Space

A Journey Through...

by Steve Parker, John Haslam (Illustrations)

Take a journey from your doorstep into outer space! Zoom through the Solar System, discovering satellites, comets and asteroids along the way. Explore craters on Mars, moon-hop around Jupiter, and get a close-up view of Saturn's amazing rings. Just don't travel too close to the Sun! Packed with lively illustrations to reveal our amazing universe, this book is perfect for a parent and child to read together or to explore independently. Includes a dust jacket that doubles up as a poster.

Genres: Science, Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Steve Parker is a British science writer of children's and adult's books. He has written more than 300 titles and contributed to or edited another 150.

Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in 1952, Parker attended Strodes College, Egham and gained a BSc First Class Honours in Zoology at the University of Wales, Bangor. He worked as an exhibition scientist at the Natural History Museum, and as editor and managing editor at Dorling Kindersley Publishers, and commissioning editor at medical periodical GP, before becoming a freelance writer in the late 1980s. He is a Senior Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society of London. Parker is based in Suffolk with his family.

Parker's writing career began with 10 early titles in Dorling Kindersley's multi-award-winning Eyewitness series, from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. He has since worked for more than a dozen children's book publishers and been shortlisted for, among others, the Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize, Times Educational Information Book of the Year, and Blue Peter Book Award.

Reviews

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice, brief introduction to our solar system and some other related space stuff (Milky Way, black holes, etc). Each topic is only a page or two...which is really not much because it includes rather large illustrations. However, that's a good thing as the illustrations are very kid-friendly with bright colors, which really pop out against the black background. Amazon recommends this book for 6-9 year olds. As a space nerd who reads these kinds of books a lot, I would say this is best for 4-6 year olds, depending on how much the kids already know about space (there are other books, with more depth, that I would recommend for kids older than 6).

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides the reader with an introduction to the solar system! The reader is lead through a fact-filled exploration through space. There is lots of information about astronomy and astronomical features that are organized in a way that is easy for children to understand. The pictures are bright and colorful and really enhance the reading experience. This book could be utilized in an introduction lesson in an astronomy unit. It would be really cute to do a read-aloud with this and follow it with questions and videos to accompany this lesson. I love how this book is laid out like an exploration I think this makes it really immersive and fun. It was a great read! I will definitely be using it in my classroom in the future!

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

-A Journey Through Space takes you around Earth’s entire solar system! This book is full of vibrant, fun illustrations that will keep students interested. Throughout this book, we learn about different parts of the solar system, including the Sun, planets, and even asteroids! It also gives us a closer look at each individual planet and explains what makes them unique. This book would be perfect for a child to read independently and could be used to create a diagram of the order of the planets.

[Des · Rating 5 out of 5]

good information given in easy to read format

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with colorful, cartoonish illustrations and easy-to-digest text, this book reveals some of the wonders of our solar system in fascinating snippets. The book begins the way most readers will begin their wanderings about the universe--by looking into the sky at the stars above them. After discussing how space crafts are launched into orbit, the author provides interesting facts about each of the planets and then moves beyond those into some conjectures about what deep space might be like. There is even a quiz at the end of the book to test readers' knowledge of what they've read. This title would be perfect for a late elementary classroom since it even includes information about the first lunar landings and the rovers that have been exploring Mars for several years now. I would have liked to have seen a reference list and websites for those curious to learn even more, though.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found A Journey Through Space to be an enjoyable and informative read with cute illustrations highlighting each topic. The book offers two page spreads on a variety of topics including the Solar System, Planets, the Sun, the Moon, asteroids, galaxies, and space travel. I found the information about the various satellites and probes to be especially fascinating. The book cover turns into a fun poster for young readers fascinated by space. There is a fun quiz at the end of the book to reinforce learning.