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Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet
Winner of an American Institute of Physics Science Communication Award
A Golden Kite Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
“The illustrations, suffused with glowing light, are dynamically varied, including a colorful double-page spread of the Milky Way galaxy, panels carrying information, [and] fanciful visions of other worlds… Thorough backmatter includes books, astronomy clubs, and various websites for further exploration. An attractive and informative volume for young stargazers.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Manley’s writing swings gracefully between factual descriptions … and more lyrical observations: “All stars twinkle, but some stars also seem to wink at us... as if saying, ‘I know a secret.’ ” … Richly informative prose and intimate yet expansive art show a child’s contagious enthusiasm for the book’s subject. Includes a timeline of astronomical discoveries and suggestions for further reading.” —Publishers Weekly
Do you wonder
if humans
are the only beings
who wonder
if they are alone
in the universe?
Our sun is a star.
In the night sky are all kinds of stars,
and orbiting those stars
are planets like the ones in our own solar system.
Could those planets have life
like we do on Earth?
Planet Earth is not too big,
not too small, not too hot,
and not too cold. It's just right.
Our very own Goldilocks planet . . . .
Follow a young girl
as she explores these questions
in this gorgeous book about the wondrous search
for another Goldilocks planet.
A Golden Kite Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
“The illustrations, suffused with glowing light, are dynamically varied, including a colorful double-page spread of the Milky Way galaxy, panels carrying information, [and] fanciful visions of other worlds… Thorough backmatter includes books, astronomy clubs, and various websites for further exploration. An attractive and informative volume for young stargazers.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Manley’s writing swings gracefully between factual descriptions … and more lyrical observations: “All stars twinkle, but some stars also seem to wink at us... as if saying, ‘I know a secret.’ ” … Richly informative prose and intimate yet expansive art show a child’s contagious enthusiasm for the book’s subject. Includes a timeline of astronomical discoveries and suggestions for further reading.” —Publishers Weekly
Do you wonder
if humans
are the only beings
who wonder
if they are alone
in the universe?
Our sun is a star.
In the night sky are all kinds of stars,
and orbiting those stars
are planets like the ones in our own solar system.
Could those planets have life
like we do on Earth?
Planet Earth is not too big,
not too small, not too hot,
and not too cold. It's just right.
Our very own Goldilocks planet . . . .
Follow a young girl
as she explores these questions
in this gorgeous book about the wondrous search
for another Goldilocks planet.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published January 29, 2019
7 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Curtis Manley
10 books55 followersI write for young people of all ages and strive to create fun books with facts about the world around us and truths about the worlds within.
curtismanley.com
curtismanley.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
March 27, 2019
I’m no teacher. I hold no degrees in any of the natural sciences. I serve on a math-related committee each year, but my knowledge of numbers is limited at best. Like many an English major, I became a librarian because on some level I figured it was the best possible escape from those subjects in which I’d only done passably well in school. Little did I suspect that by throwing my hat in with the children’s librarians I’d be privy to book after book of fascinating facts extolling the virtues of a whole host of sciences. Through children’s literature I’ve rediscovered a love of all those subjects I rejected when I was younger. Why? Because at this moment in time children’s nonfiction is stronger than it has ever been. We have a host of talented artists and authors finding innovative ways to make the sometimes intangible understandable. In reading these books, I have also discovered that what separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, is when the books don’t rely on cheap tactics like fake dialogue and those “alternative facts” that make for a better story, and are only corrected in the tiny type of an Afterword. There certainly is nothing cheap about Curtis Manley and Jessica Lanan’s Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet. With a title like that, I was half expecting a fictional mash-up of a classic fairytale and hard astronomical science. Instead, I found an enticing rendering of the world we live in, what makes it so special, and why we yearn to find other planets like our own, somewhere in the universe.
How special is our planet? It’s not the kind of thing you really think about, unless you’re ruminating over nature. Yet when it comes right down to it, Earth is more than a little amazing. It exists in our solar system’s “habitable zone” at just the right distance from the Sun. It has a molten core filled with enough iron to create a magnetic field (the perfect thing for protecting our atmosphere from solar winds). And then there’s that thick atmosphere that prevents our oceans from drying up, even while it holds our oxygen in place. Considering all these amazing features, is there any hope at all for life on other planets? To answer that question you need to look to the stars. As we watch, a young girl and her family go to the museum and consider massive telescopes and a Planetarium, and the girl starts to seriously imagine what life would be like on, say, one of the eleven billion Earth-sized exoplanets that scientists estimate are in our galaxy. Backmatter includes “The Science of Detecting Exoplanets” (already covered briefly in the text), questions like “What About Forms of Life Not Based on Carbon?”, a Selected Bibliography, books for Further Reading, Exoplanet Websites, Citizen-Science Websites, Amateur Astronomy Club and Star Party Websites, a note on “The Pace of Discovery”, and A Timeline of Discovering Our Place in the Universe, which extends from the front endpapers to the back.
I have a rather unfortunate habit when I learn a really interesting new fact. When a normal person learns something new, they might bring it up with their friends at an appropriate moment. Perhaps there will be a pause in the conversation. Maybe the friend will be discussing something that has a tangential relationship to the fact that you have learned and you can bring it up naturally. With me, I aspire to be the kind of levelheaded conversationalist that knows the appropriate time and place to proffer some of the knowledge that I have learned. Instead, I seem to have absconded with all forms of impulse control, particularly when it relates to an interesting book. Last year, the book this happened the most with was Rachel Poliquin’s Beavers: The Superpower Field Guide (did you know they have see-through eyelids that act like goggles?!?). This year, this dubious honor falls to Just Right. I never in a million years would have predicted that a book about exoplanets could contain so many facts that are pertinent to what I see on a regular day-to-day basis. For example, it absolutely blows my mind that when you see a star “twinkle” that might be because an exoplanet has moved between you and the star’s light, blocking it out momentarily. That’s the kind of information that, were I a teacher, I’d be leaping around the classroom talking about, wildly. Roll your eyes all you want, kids. This book’s chock full of good stuff like that!
Again, I’m no scientist, but even I have been aware of the two different kinds of nonfiction titles for kids out there. In the first category you have you “narrative nonfiction” texts. These may include books for kids where the facts are presented like a story. Biographies and autobiographies are, by their very definitions, examples of narrative nonfiction. Now if you were to just limit a person’s life to their Timeline, that might be what they call “expository nonfiction”. These read like a series of facts, without the necessity of a storyline. When children’s book authors attempt to shoehorn in narrative aspects to expository information, the result is often extremely awkward (we’re not all capable of producing a Ms. Frizzle, people). Far more elegant is the solution I’ve seen with books like Just Right. Just look at how author Curtis Manley and illustrator Jessica Lanan straddle the narrative/expository canyon:
Manley, to start, lets you know precisely what you’ve gotten yourself into with a Timeline on the front and back endpapers of this book. Then you turn the page and the illustrator is showing you a shot, from space, of our planet. On the next two pages we are zooming in on the land in four consecutive panels, finally landing on the image of a Black girl at her window, gazing at the sky, wondering about the likelihood that we’re alone in the universe. Essentially, Manley and Lanan are telling you from the get go that this book is going to have its cake and eat it too. You want facts? Manley steadfastly eschews any sort of story, even as he quotes astronomers and starts winnowing his way towards his thesis. It’s Lanan, the artist, who gives much of this text a more narrative feel. Her heroine is seen traversing the universe (if only in her head) thinking about cold, tiny, and/or soft planets. When her family takes a trip to the museum, her imagination takes her from molten cores to exoplanets like “WASP-12b”. And, in including this, Lanan is able to snag readers. Honestly, what she’s doing here is not all that different from some of Jason Chin’s books like Coral Reefs or his Caldecott Honor winning Grand Canyon. Like this book, those titles can be shelved in the nonfiction section because the storyline in the art almost exists on a different plane than the information written down. It’s simply a way of bridging the gap for those students that need a narrative to grasp facts.
I understand that Earth Day is a time when we celebrate the environment and why we should do everything in our power to keep it pristine. But if I may be so bold, perhaps another way of celebrating the day might be to make it clear just how rare our pretty planet really is. One of the many things Just Right does so well is that it shows us how strange and remarkable it is that it even came to exist in its current form at all. But what sets Just Right apart, however, and would make it a particularly fascinating read this coming Earth Day, is the amount of space it allows its child readers to speculate and wonder. We think about aliens all the time and what they might be like. Imagine actually finding other planets where they might live. That’s what Just Right does. It allows for the scope of possibility, even as its very message about the difficulty in finding planets like our own reinforces the fact that this place is pretty special. A book for narrative and expository readers alike.
For ages 6-10.
How special is our planet? It’s not the kind of thing you really think about, unless you’re ruminating over nature. Yet when it comes right down to it, Earth is more than a little amazing. It exists in our solar system’s “habitable zone” at just the right distance from the Sun. It has a molten core filled with enough iron to create a magnetic field (the perfect thing for protecting our atmosphere from solar winds). And then there’s that thick atmosphere that prevents our oceans from drying up, even while it holds our oxygen in place. Considering all these amazing features, is there any hope at all for life on other planets? To answer that question you need to look to the stars. As we watch, a young girl and her family go to the museum and consider massive telescopes and a Planetarium, and the girl starts to seriously imagine what life would be like on, say, one of the eleven billion Earth-sized exoplanets that scientists estimate are in our galaxy. Backmatter includes “The Science of Detecting Exoplanets” (already covered briefly in the text), questions like “What About Forms of Life Not Based on Carbon?”, a Selected Bibliography, books for Further Reading, Exoplanet Websites, Citizen-Science Websites, Amateur Astronomy Club and Star Party Websites, a note on “The Pace of Discovery”, and A Timeline of Discovering Our Place in the Universe, which extends from the front endpapers to the back.
I have a rather unfortunate habit when I learn a really interesting new fact. When a normal person learns something new, they might bring it up with their friends at an appropriate moment. Perhaps there will be a pause in the conversation. Maybe the friend will be discussing something that has a tangential relationship to the fact that you have learned and you can bring it up naturally. With me, I aspire to be the kind of levelheaded conversationalist that knows the appropriate time and place to proffer some of the knowledge that I have learned. Instead, I seem to have absconded with all forms of impulse control, particularly when it relates to an interesting book. Last year, the book this happened the most with was Rachel Poliquin’s Beavers: The Superpower Field Guide (did you know they have see-through eyelids that act like goggles?!?). This year, this dubious honor falls to Just Right. I never in a million years would have predicted that a book about exoplanets could contain so many facts that are pertinent to what I see on a regular day-to-day basis. For example, it absolutely blows my mind that when you see a star “twinkle” that might be because an exoplanet has moved between you and the star’s light, blocking it out momentarily. That’s the kind of information that, were I a teacher, I’d be leaping around the classroom talking about, wildly. Roll your eyes all you want, kids. This book’s chock full of good stuff like that!
Again, I’m no scientist, but even I have been aware of the two different kinds of nonfiction titles for kids out there. In the first category you have you “narrative nonfiction” texts. These may include books for kids where the facts are presented like a story. Biographies and autobiographies are, by their very definitions, examples of narrative nonfiction. Now if you were to just limit a person’s life to their Timeline, that might be what they call “expository nonfiction”. These read like a series of facts, without the necessity of a storyline. When children’s book authors attempt to shoehorn in narrative aspects to expository information, the result is often extremely awkward (we’re not all capable of producing a Ms. Frizzle, people). Far more elegant is the solution I’ve seen with books like Just Right. Just look at how author Curtis Manley and illustrator Jessica Lanan straddle the narrative/expository canyon:
Manley, to start, lets you know precisely what you’ve gotten yourself into with a Timeline on the front and back endpapers of this book. Then you turn the page and the illustrator is showing you a shot, from space, of our planet. On the next two pages we are zooming in on the land in four consecutive panels, finally landing on the image of a Black girl at her window, gazing at the sky, wondering about the likelihood that we’re alone in the universe. Essentially, Manley and Lanan are telling you from the get go that this book is going to have its cake and eat it too. You want facts? Manley steadfastly eschews any sort of story, even as he quotes astronomers and starts winnowing his way towards his thesis. It’s Lanan, the artist, who gives much of this text a more narrative feel. Her heroine is seen traversing the universe (if only in her head) thinking about cold, tiny, and/or soft planets. When her family takes a trip to the museum, her imagination takes her from molten cores to exoplanets like “WASP-12b”. And, in including this, Lanan is able to snag readers. Honestly, what she’s doing here is not all that different from some of Jason Chin’s books like Coral Reefs or his Caldecott Honor winning Grand Canyon. Like this book, those titles can be shelved in the nonfiction section because the storyline in the art almost exists on a different plane than the information written down. It’s simply a way of bridging the gap for those students that need a narrative to grasp facts.
I understand that Earth Day is a time when we celebrate the environment and why we should do everything in our power to keep it pristine. But if I may be so bold, perhaps another way of celebrating the day might be to make it clear just how rare our pretty planet really is. One of the many things Just Right does so well is that it shows us how strange and remarkable it is that it even came to exist in its current form at all. But what sets Just Right apart, however, and would make it a particularly fascinating read this coming Earth Day, is the amount of space it allows its child readers to speculate and wonder. We think about aliens all the time and what they might be like. Imagine actually finding other planets where they might live. That’s what Just Right does. It allows for the scope of possibility, even as its very message about the difficulty in finding planets like our own reinforces the fact that this place is pretty special. A book for narrative and expository readers alike.
For ages 6-10.
August 5, 2019
STEM connected book with lots of information on exoplanets in kid-friendly language. Back matter and sidebars and timeline on endpapers for more info connect to NGSS. Illustrations are beautiful!! Black girl + family represented in science-related book is rare.
January 31, 2019
Going to read this (after I read Earth! and Sun! by Stacy McAnulty) to my first graders who just can't get enough about outer space. Pleased to see a family of color as main characters.
Like how the layout varies- some full page, others broken into panels.
Just enough facts in the main story for a class read aloud. Factbox/Captions provide more scientific details about exoplanets, telescopes, and astronomers and would be best saved for one-to-one reading with a caregiver. Recommended grades 1-5.
Like how the layout varies- some full page, others broken into panels.
Just enough facts in the main story for a class read aloud. Factbox/Captions provide more scientific details about exoplanets, telescopes, and astronomers and would be best saved for one-to-one reading with a caregiver. Recommended grades 1-5.
May 19, 2021
A good introduction to exo-planets for young readers.
February 22, 2019
A good introduction to the search for life on other planets and what makes a planet inhabitable. Manley introduces the concept of a "Golidlocks planet": one that is not too hot, not too cold, and has all the other elements needed for life to survive. The illustrations are really beautiful, and show a family exploring a planetarium together before the girl is gifted a telescope to do her own exploration. Give this to the curious kid in your life.
January 24, 2019
Engaging and informative. I especially appreciated how the illustrations had a parallel story, that wasn’t explained in the text specifically, showing a young girl going to the planetarium with her parents, while the text proceeds with explanation of the topic.
August 14, 2019
Very well done on the search for life on other planets. Like the Goldilocks tie-in of finding planets that are just right.
January 14, 2021
Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet is a children's picture book written by Curtis Manley and illustrated by Jessica Lanan. Readers join a brown-skinned girl with a polka-dotted backpack as she asks questions about the stars and visits a space museum, where she watches exoplanets careen overhead in a planetarium.
Goldilocks Planets are exoplanets within the range of an orbit of a star, which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure and thus the possibility of life.
Manley's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. Manley's writing swings gracefully between factual descriptions and more lyrical observations. Backmatter includes a timeline of astronomical discoveries and suggestions for further reading. In sweeping, inky art, Lanan captures the child's dawning awareness of the vastness of the universe.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It follows an inquisitive girl who ponders a lot about stars and heads to a planetarium nearby. Back home after the trip, the child considers the types of life-forms that might be out there in the vastness of the universe.
All in all, Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet is an attractive and informative volume for young stargazers.
Goldilocks Planets are exoplanets within the range of an orbit of a star, which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure and thus the possibility of life.
Manley's text is rather simplistic, straightforward, and informative. Manley's writing swings gracefully between factual descriptions and more lyrical observations. Backmatter includes a timeline of astronomical discoveries and suggestions for further reading. In sweeping, inky art, Lanan captures the child's dawning awareness of the vastness of the universe.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It follows an inquisitive girl who ponders a lot about stars and heads to a planetarium nearby. Back home after the trip, the child considers the types of life-forms that might be out there in the vastness of the universe.
All in all, Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet is an attractive and informative volume for young stargazers.
February 23, 2019
Gorgeous and informative! The illustrations tell a story of a young girl visiting a planetarium with her family, while the text informs the reader on the ongoing search for life on exoplanets. The information is broken down into easily accessible chunks for young readers, with helpful illustrative visuals. I really enjoyed this one!
December 12, 2021
Everything you want to know about exoplanets: what & where they are and how they are found. It’s a little deep for general browsing, but planet buffs should enjoy it.* Narrative format of young girl and family visiting a planetarium sprinkled with usual NF features. Love the timeline on the end pages. Especially love the blurb on the pace of discovery - wow!
*Reminds me of a picture book version of A Black Hole is Not a Hole
*Reminds me of a picture book version of A Black Hole is Not a Hole
March 30, 2019
This book deftly blends wonder, curiosity, science and history to explain the search for other planets and life beyond Earth. Beautifully illustrated. And as I read it with my 10-year-old son, I was struck by how well it anticipated and covered questions that would naturally be asked by readers.
June 23, 2019
Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet by Curtis Manley, illustrated by Jessica Lanan. NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK. Roaring Brook (Macmillan), 2019. $19. 9781250155337
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Since the beginning of recorded history, mankind has wondered if there are other planets with life on them somewhere out in the stars. How do we search for these planets? What would life on them look like?
Manley gives us a detailed, but accessible look at the different ways scientists are looking for other planetary bodies throughout space. Detailed enough that it will work best with older students – any class that discusses space exploration could use this. The explanations of how the different methods work was very clear – clear enough for this non-scientist to get a good grasp.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2019...
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Since the beginning of recorded history, mankind has wondered if there are other planets with life on them somewhere out in the stars. How do we search for these planets? What would life on them look like?
Manley gives us a detailed, but accessible look at the different ways scientists are looking for other planetary bodies throughout space. Detailed enough that it will work best with older students – any class that discusses space exploration could use this. The explanations of how the different methods work was very clear – clear enough for this non-scientist to get a good grasp.
Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2019...
October 23, 2019
Great read aloud for older grades, if reading to younger grades read it across a couple of days and explore the information per section (through other picture books, experiments and 'google' searches). I love this book but every time I've read it, it has been a bit too much; even for my sciency guys. I would love to develop a 2 week program around this book .... so for those interested (and my future self) this is how I'd schedule it.
P1 - P6: theological views of likelihood of earth being only inhabited planet in the universe (Lucretius, Teng Mu, Giordano Bruno, Christiaan Huygens) + 1995 discovery of 'extrasolar planets'
P7 - P12: Habitable = not to; hot/cold, hard/soft + magnetic field to protect from solar winds + atmosphere
p13 - P18: How we know other suns (stars) have planets (exoplanets) orbiting around them (use telescopes (book gives illustrations and info for 4 telescopes) to test for 'transit method', 'radial velocity method', 'spectroscopy method'.
P19 - p24: terminology for how we size other exoplanets (if its a large gas giant we call it a 'Jupiter', smaller than Jupiter but larger than Earth a 'Neptune', etc.)
P25 - P34: while searching for new planets Astronomers search for signs of life as we know it (certain chemicals in a planet's atmosphere, etc.) + what might possible other living beings look like?
P35 - P38: Authors philosophy on possibilities (lovely)
End pages have facts and timelines ;)
P1 - P6: theological views of likelihood of earth being only inhabited planet in the universe (Lucretius, Teng Mu, Giordano Bruno, Christiaan Huygens) + 1995 discovery of 'extrasolar planets'
P7 - P12: Habitable = not to; hot/cold, hard/soft + magnetic field to protect from solar winds + atmosphere
p13 - P18: How we know other suns (stars) have planets (exoplanets) orbiting around them (use telescopes (book gives illustrations and info for 4 telescopes) to test for 'transit method', 'radial velocity method', 'spectroscopy method'.
P19 - p24: terminology for how we size other exoplanets (if its a large gas giant we call it a 'Jupiter', smaller than Jupiter but larger than Earth a 'Neptune', etc.)
P25 - P34: while searching for new planets Astronomers search for signs of life as we know it (certain chemicals in a planet's atmosphere, etc.) + what might possible other living beings look like?
P35 - P38: Authors philosophy on possibilities (lovely)
End pages have facts and timelines ;)
April 12, 2019
The text is simple, but definitely not dumbed-down, we get some serious vocabulary and explanations as we move through the idea of our Earth being unique because it's "just right" (not too hot, not too cold, not too windy/rainy/etc., just the right mix of gases and gravity and atmosphere). The author goes on to describe the search for other planets that would be hospitable, too. We learn how scientists identify exoplanets and what it might mean when we see a star twinkle in the sky. It's thorough, age appropriate, interesting, and imminently understandable. In short, the text is perfect for elementary age kids who are interested in outer space and how humans explore it.
Then, add in the illustrations, which tell an amazingly beautiful story! A Black family spends a day at the planetarium learning all the things the text is teaching the reader. We see a young Black girl look up and dream and explore. All around this family are other diverse families (all colors, all ages) also exploring the museum, too. Really, the pictures could tell their own story. They match perfectly with the text to really support the textual facts and build on them. They match the text and make everything accessible to the layperson.
Seriously a beautiful book! 5 stars.
Then, add in the illustrations, which tell an amazingly beautiful story! A Black family spends a day at the planetarium learning all the things the text is teaching the reader. We see a young Black girl look up and dream and explore. All around this family are other diverse families (all colors, all ages) also exploring the museum, too. Really, the pictures could tell their own story. They match perfectly with the text to really support the textual facts and build on them. They match the text and make everything accessible to the layperson.
Seriously a beautiful book! 5 stars.
May 2, 2019
A brown-skinned girl, whose name we aren't told, with a polka-dotted backpack as she asks questions about the stars and visits a space museum, where she watches exoplanets careen overhead in a planetarium. Her parents with a younger child stay in the background. In both realistic and imaginative illustrations, Lanan captures the child’s curiosity and seeming amazement at the vastness of the universe. Manley gives factual descriptions that I learned quite a lot from, and poetic observations in this story showing the connection to the child's story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There is an explanation of the different naming of found planets far away and the continuing innovations of powerful telescopes showing more and more. The story ends with the family at home, using their own new telescope to watch the sky.
Lanan explains in the back matter that during the three years' writing, text had to be revised because of new discoveries. The endpapers, both front and back, include a wonderful timeline of astronomical discoveries, plus added information is in the backmatter.
Lanan explains in the back matter that during the three years' writing, text had to be revised because of new discoveries. The endpapers, both front and back, include a wonderful timeline of astronomical discoveries, plus added information is in the backmatter.
March 29, 2019
Humans have long wondered if there is life on any of the other planets in space. This book's illustrations feature a young girl who is curious about that very question while the text and endpapers explore how we have moved from Aristotle's certainty that the Earth is the center of the universe to recent discoveries of some planets that are in what is known as habitable areas of stars similar to our sun. This is an interesting and well-illustrated book covering exoplanets. Most readers will appreciate the reference to Goldilocks and her search for food, a place to sit, and a place to rest that were just right as they read about the search for a planet that has all the right ingredients to sustain life. It all makes me marvel at the wonders of our own Earth, seemingly unique in all the universe. But can that be the case? The text and images will certainly have youngsters searching the sky and wondering what might be out there.
February 6, 2019
This is outstanding nonfiction for young readers in every possible way!
Author Manley is doing several things: introducing and explaining the subject of exoplanets including the many factors that are required for a planet to be habitable by a life form like ours, providing a brief history of the history and scientists involved in a search for exoplanets, telling an engaging science story and challenging young readers to think about some intriguing philosophical ideas.
While all this is going on, illustrator Jessica Lanan is also providing a related but wordless story in her gorgeous exuberant pictures while expanding and informing the text at the same time. Her illustrations are gorgeous, especially the page-filling night skies.
Excellent back matter completes the book with additional scientific information, a bibliography and recommended online resources.
Author Manley is doing several things: introducing and explaining the subject of exoplanets including the many factors that are required for a planet to be habitable by a life form like ours, providing a brief history of the history and scientists involved in a search for exoplanets, telling an engaging science story and challenging young readers to think about some intriguing philosophical ideas.
While all this is going on, illustrator Jessica Lanan is also providing a related but wordless story in her gorgeous exuberant pictures while expanding and informing the text at the same time. Her illustrations are gorgeous, especially the page-filling night skies.
Excellent back matter completes the book with additional scientific information, a bibliography and recommended online resources.
May 13, 2020
My science/astronomy junkies will love to check out this book. Updated planetary science and terms, blended into an engaging story that reads well and posits questions that we all have about the planets. This books does an excellent job of offering connections to every day nuances that we are familiar with in order to understand the science-based principles and concepts covered. Could easily be used instructionally to demo properties of water: ice and evap to support life on other planets, magnetism, and light for grades 2-4 . Also, a good family exploratory read-aloud for multiple-ages. Good sidebar facts that are more appealing to older readers. A great addition to bring an updated readable option to your planetary library 523 section.
August 29, 2020
A fantastic take on space gazing for kids...
A short non-fiction commentary on what things scientists research in their search for life on other planets. The endsheets offer highlights/a timeline of the search for exoplanets in the universe that would be "habitable" by humans. Inside, it explores the history, considerations, findings, and projects what the future may hold. Told objectively with sensitivity for children's needs and limitations by Manley, Jessica Lanan's pencil, watercolor and ink illustrations are stunning in their realization. She makes effective use of the oversized book, blackness of space, and bright colors. Bonus points to her for making a black girl as the subject that the author is speaking to/about.
A perfect STEM title!
Highly Recommended for K-6.
A short non-fiction commentary on what things scientists research in their search for life on other planets. The endsheets offer highlights/a timeline of the search for exoplanets in the universe that would be "habitable" by humans. Inside, it explores the history, considerations, findings, and projects what the future may hold. Told objectively with sensitivity for children's needs and limitations by Manley, Jessica Lanan's pencil, watercolor and ink illustrations are stunning in their realization. She makes effective use of the oversized book, blackness of space, and bright colors. Bonus points to her for making a black girl as the subject that the author is speaking to/about.
A perfect STEM title!
Highly Recommended for K-6.
November 10, 2020
I've always advocating for teaching science of any kind with the tagline, "From what we know so far" is a picture book that genuinely provides readers with clearly sorted content about the remarkable discoveries related to space and our solar system and our galaxy, while introducing some of the most current details about the science of exa-planets.
There is a brilliant balance of complex content and concepts with intensely appealing illustrations. Together they generate (in me) a deep respect for science, sprawling curiosity about all that we still do NOT know, and an abiding appreciation for the planet we call home, Earth.
it also deepens conviction to do all we can to protect and preserve this planet of ours.
There is a brilliant balance of complex content and concepts with intensely appealing illustrations. Together they generate (in me) a deep respect for science, sprawling curiosity about all that we still do NOT know, and an abiding appreciation for the planet we call home, Earth.
it also deepens conviction to do all we can to protect and preserve this planet of ours.
December 3, 2020
3.5 stars I like the premise of this book, and the science and the what ifs, but it seems so unfathomable (The notion of worlds without number) is something I believe in a religious and spiritual scenes, so by faith I understand it, but science seems just took much work and not really necessary. Discover is never a waste of money, but does it matter if there is life out there, I guess, if we have to leave earth and go to a Goldilocks planet it might be useful, but honestly, none of our are getting of this planet alive!
I liked this idea of the book, but is it something I am going to get really excited over and buy copies for all of my friends no! but it would be a really fun Astronomy lesson for 5th Graders
I liked this idea of the book, but is it something I am going to get really excited over and buy copies for all of my friends no! but it would be a really fun Astronomy lesson for 5th Graders
February 1, 2019
This fascinating nonfiction picture book tells readers the history of the science of exoplanets in a way that is kid-friendly and accessible. This well-illustrated book is loaded with information that is unpacked as a girl and her family spend time at a local science/astronomy museum. This book also has a detailed list of other resources kids can use to find more information. This book would be a great starting point for research on exoplanets and it's also just a great way to inspire kids to ask questions and think about the larger universe. This is definitely a great nonfiction resource to have on any bookshelf.
April 14, 2019
One of the things that I love about this book is the timeline on the end pages. It takes a look at the universe and planets beginning with Aristotle in 350 BC and continuing to the TRAPPIST telescope in 2017. It helps students to realize just how long and how many people have been thinking about these issues and discoveries. The book looks at how we might find another planet like Earth, a Goldilocks planet that can sustain life. It also talks about what type of life that might be - it could be very different than the life on our planet but it could still mean that it is life. The discoveries that are out in our galaxies are many and beyond what we might be able to imagine today.
October 22, 2019
If you're searching for a Goldilocks science book for kids, this one is JUST RIGHT! Sorry, that is corny. But true! Lucid explanations of astronomy are just one piece of the puzzle. This book also tells an everyday story in the pictures -- a family visiting a science museum -- which serves to connect the book to the lives of readers. I also love additional facts in sidebars, captions, and endpapers. And beautiful illustrations. I think this will work for ages 5 to 10.
As a librarian, I'm peeved with the publisher Macmillan right now over their ebook embargo. I would like to say they stink. At the same time, this book rules.
As a librarian, I'm peeved with the publisher Macmillan right now over their ebook embargo. I would like to say they stink. At the same time, this book rules.
July 18, 2019
Is there life out there? Are there planets like our that can sustain life? It has to be just right, that's a Goldilocks planet. Not too hot, not too cold with the exact right balance of everything. Modern telescopes can see billions of stars, and these stars have planets, so maybe . . .
I do love these short on fiction reads. They are the perfect springboard to get a kid interested in a subject and encourage further research and exploration. The illustrations are beautiful, the colors against the black paper are striking, it's like reading a book of the night sky.
I do love these short on fiction reads. They are the perfect springboard to get a kid interested in a subject and encourage further research and exploration. The illustrations are beautiful, the colors against the black paper are striking, it's like reading a book of the night sky.
July 19, 2020
This book does a really great job of introducing many of the questions astronomers today are still trying to answer to younger readers. I think that this book will be a fantastic introduction to astronomy for anybody who is a little unfamiliar with it and presents it in a really fascinating way that draws people in. It's also a bonus that the story is told from the perspective of an inquisitive young black girl so I believe that that would add by in for people who aren't a old white man. I would absolutely recommend this to any science teacher who's doing a unit on astronomy.
May 20, 2022
Impressive. A very science-y children's picture book. Definitely not an early reader. Lots of information packed into this one. But I think it would still work as a read aloud. Pretty good art. This comes off like a visit to a science museum. It's got some history, some science. I'd like to believe this book looks to some kids becoming astronomers, or scientists or science fiction writers. Pretty good afterword. Perhaps the whole book is aimed just slightly too tough. And the text doesn't quite sing. But very good. 4.5 of 5.
March 4, 2019
Every young child with even a smidgen of interest in astronomy will want to read this book, or have it read to them. I was also impressed with the illustrations, and with how the illustrator added a character for the reader to relate to. The text is accurate, accessible, and instills wonder while staying firmly in the realm of science. Actually, the book is also an excellent introduction to exoplanets for adults who are new to the topic.
March 13, 2019
A non-fiction book about the earth and what is out in the universe and how to discover if there is another one same size, shape, with the traits of the earth like Goldilocks searched for similar and better things somewhere else. Back matter in this book and lots of details about former scientists looking for this. Better read with a child or talked about as the language is scientific. Or as a source book with children on the subject of earth in a classroom.
May 1, 2019
Chock full of facts and information, conversationally presented with a scientist's approach of inquiry, this is the book for the budding astro-scientist. I appreciate the endpapers with their timeline of discovering other planets and solar systems; the family and young girl that serves as a stand in for us in the exploration of eco-planets. Terrific fodder for research projects with useful back matter.
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