Blast off on a trip to discover the fascinating world of meteors. In this image-packed book, kids will learn all about these objects hurtling through space—and into our atmosphere. This Level 3 reader is written in an easy-to-grasp style to encourage the scientists and explorers of tomorrow!
Melissa Stewart is the award-winning author of more than 180 science and nature books for children. She offers a wide range of programs for schools, libraries, nature centers, and conferences. www.melissa-stewart.com"
Wow, wow to this book because my four year old son knows the difference between a meteor, meteoroid, and meteorite. The photos, and layout of this book just make learning happen. He even acts it out from conception to end (pretending to crash into planets or astroids till he lands on earth as a meteorite). Personal note: I can’t get my son to trust broccoli, but he can fully embrace being a meteor?!?
Readers are introduced to the terminology used when talking about readers, the origins of meteors, types of meteorites, and some notable meteorites.
This is a confusing topic for kids in science, mostly because of the picky terminology involved, but this book does a spectacular job of making things very clear. The photographs and illustrations help a lot. The writing is very readable and engaging. And the information is quite interesting, especially the little section at the end about meteorites that have caused property damage and one that actually hit a person (after bouncing off some other things). (Don't worry about causing panicked readers waiting for the sky to fall. The book is clear on how rare these events are.)
Nonfiction Grade Level 1-2 Budding astronomers will love this book. Even though this book is written for 1st-2nd grade students, I still found it very interesting as an adult reader. I learned a lot about meteors that I didn’t know before. I could see this book as being a great research source for young writers developing text on this topic. National Geographic does such a great job presenting their nonfiction material in a way that appeals to young readers. I use their books often in my classroom.
If Melissa Stewart wrote it with Nat Geo, you know it will be good, chock full of kid friendly facts and photos. Good layout, except I found the “meteor meaning” vocabulary sidebars distracting. Picture glossary, index, quiz in the back matter. Would like to see a resources or further reading section. The verso does have an acknowledgment for review by a NASA office.
An engaging nonfiction for beginning researchers and kids who want to learn about meteors, in Meteors (2016) Stewart uses such textboxes as “Weird but True” to highlight interesting related facts, “Meteor Meaning” to define meteor-specific terms, and Q & A Jokeboxes to add humor to the study of meteors. Text insets include colorful photographs of close-ups of comets, asteroids, and meteors.