On Earth

by G. Brian Karas

Climb aboard the earth for the adventure of a lifetime! As you travel, watch shadows move from here to there as day stretches into night, and feel the weather change as one season rolls into the next. All these amazing things happen because the earth is constantly in motion. Spinning and circling, gliding and tilting, as passengers of the earth, our voyage never ends!

With poetic text and gorgeous illustrations, G. Brian Karas illuminates our earth and its cycles and does a brilliant job of making the concepts of rotation and revolution understandable to even the youngest readers.

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Nonfiction, Childrens, Space, Poetry, Nature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

G. Brian Karas has illustrated close to ninety children’s books. He has also written and illustrated several titles, including HOME ON THE BAYOU, a BOSTON-GLOBE-HORN Book Honor winner. He lives in Rhinebeck, New York.

Reviews

[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

On Earth is an excellent explanation of night and day, seasons, and earth’s rotations and revolutions for young readers. Simple, brief text and colorful paintings illustrate the scientific principles in an almost poetic fashion. Perfect for use in elementary science classrooms, this book allows students to see the complex principles modeled with their own eyes.

[Ralf Urbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was glad to see such an easy way to teach the basics about the way the earth works. Great and informative illustrations. My son really had a good time teaching his OLDER sister a thing or two about the world!

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just what we needed. An introduction to how days and rotations, seasons and revolutions work. Illustrations and verse make it more like a story rather than a "fact book."

[Yoshinobu Yamakawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Earth, we're traveling through space on this big vehicle."

The moment I opened this picture book, I was as excited as a child. I felt as if I was traveling through the vast universe on a spaceship.

The author, G. Brian Karas, describes the Earth based on scientific facts. The reason for day and night, the change of seasons, the revolution of the Earth... However, his words are not hard or cold, but warm and somewhat poetic. He speaks of the mysteries of the Earth as if a kind grandfather were speaking to his grandchild.

The greatest appeal of this picture book is that it conveys the scale of the Earth in a way that is easy for children to understand. How small the Earth is in the universe, and at the same time, how big the Earth is. The author vividly depicts this contradiction with beautiful illustrations and simple words.

This picture book also teaches us the joy of living on Earth. The sunlight, the smell of the wind, the sound of rain... The author portrays these natural phenomena not simply as scientific phenomena, but as the source of life. With every turn of the page, you realize just how irreplaceable the Earth is.

"Chikyu" is a science picture book, but at the same time, it is a beautiful story. Children who read this book will surely develop a greater curiosity about the planet Earth and develop a heart that cherishes it.

[Hannah Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

On Earth by G. Brain Karas walks its readers through the amazing science behind the planet we live on. The book talks about the Earth and the way it rotates on its axis. It also explains the changing of seasons and how it happens! It breaks down how the Earths rotation is directly correlated to the changing of seasons. It then moves to teaching children about the reason for night and day. In a way perfect for young readers, the book demonstrates where the earth is facing when it changes from night to day. It also explains the concept of time and how 1 year is 1 full rotation on Earths axis.

This book taught me things I forgot I knew! It is an excellent way to teach children about the simple but incredible science of the earth. It gives its readers an understanding of the changing seasons and the Earth's rotation. It is the perfect book especially for children with a budding interest in the world of science! Or for a child who is beginning to wonder about the world around them. I really enjoyed this book and its illustrations! I could definitely see using this book for a multitude of age ranges as it is simple to understand but talks about complex matters.

[Katy-Margaret Doss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review for On Earth by G. Brain Karas. This book is about how Earth rotates on its axis and why and how we have different seasons. This book explains why we have different seasons based on Earth's rotations. It also mentions time and how 1 year is 1 full rotation on Earths axis. The book also explains night and day and how that is caused by Earth facing the sun or not facing the sun. I really liked this book. It would be great for introducing this topic to younger children because it is written in a simple and easy to understand way. This would also be great for a child to read and use for a science project about the Earth. The illustrations were beautiful and kids would enjoy them as well. I would use this book to work on identifying colors, reading comprehension, and asking and answering "wh" questions.

[MindfulMuslimReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book highlights the order and beauty in Earth’s movement with simple text and stunning illustrations, making these concepts easy to grasp for young readers. Concepts include Earth's rotation, Earth's orbit, gravity and so forth.  This is a great book to reinforce the Oneness of God while contemplating the breadth and depth of His infinite power and knowledge about the Earth, the Universe, and beyond. To know God is to know Him through His creations.  It is important to regularly remind children to reflect on this especially as they are moving away from a concrete understanding of the world to one that is more abstract.

We rate children's books for virtue, language, story, and beauty and flag content advisories when needed.

Read more at MindfulMuslimReader.com.
“Books Worth Reading”

[Victoria Swisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book teaches all about the Earth and how it moves in space. It explains how the Earth sits on an axis and rotates around the sun, and that this is how we have days, nights, months, and seasons. The book gives several scientific facts about the Earths place in outer space, how it moves, and how we are moving on it.
I like how this book gave very simple descriptions and explanations about the Earth and how it moves in outer space. I think it would be great to use for younger children to introduce Earth Science concepts. I would like to include this in my classroom library, or in a science center to teach children about the Earth.

[Katie Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"On Earth" gives the readers description on why the earth works the way it does. It talks about why we have seasons, what orbits looks like, and how time works in space. In the back of the book, there are quick facts about earth, like " The earth revolves around the sun in a big oval orbit."

I thought this book was okay. I thought it was informative, but very surface level. I would only recommend it to students who are young and need simple explanation on traits of the earth, gravity, and seasons.

[Sierra Kisiday · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel that this story is really implicit. The words and pictures effortlessly imparts understanding of time, calendars, seasons and growth in the rotation and revolution of planet earth. Arrows show the earth spinning on its axis and the way it circles the sun. The illustrations have texture and charm, but also whimsy and a light, supple touch, as they move in close to the children’s faces or out to the whole solar system.

[Alicia Tavernier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an educational book on a topic that may be hard to introduce. This book touches on the earths roatation, why we have seasons, why there is day and night, gravity and much more. I enjoy how this book is not so much just facts but flows well as a story. I gave this book 5 stars out of 5 stars because the way it explains everything and the creative illustrations that match the storyline.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book to pull out when kids start to be curious about the planet they live on. Simple explanations of the earth’s rotation around the sun and how long that takes will help kids 4 to 8 years old understand big concepts like time and seasons. On Earth would also be a great place to start the study of planets and space.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book that explains seasons in relation to the sun and rotation and tilt then this is the book for you. Beautifully illustrated and well explained, this is a wonderful book to have on your home or classroom shelf.

[Steffani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This simplistic, poetic picture book provides a stunning introductory to the earth, how seasons change, and how day turns to night. It is a perfect book to use with young children to explain difficult scientific concepts.

[Myah Rusco · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great way to incorporate science with literature. There are a variety of concepts that students can learn about through this well illustrated and easy to follow along with book. This is definitely a book I would like to incorporate in my classroom.

[Alison Whiteman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice illustrations. I am enjoying reading children's books.

[Grace DeBaltzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book about the science of the Earth. Basically meets all the K-2 standards with seasons, shadows, planets, months, gravity. Great book for science.

[Christine Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

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Lots of basic information on the Earth, its relation to the sun, and how we live on our home planet.

[Kathleen Lance]

This book talks to readers about the changing of the seasons based on the Earth's position in space. It explains that the earth is on an axis and that as the planet orbits the sun, the seasons change because of how close or far we are from the sun. The book explains why winter days are shorter and summer days are longer, why we have calendars to keep track of time, and why we see shadows at sunset and sunrise.

I personally loved this book. It is a science non-fiction book, but the illustrations make it feel as though it is a fun book to read. I think kids in 2nd-3rd grade would love this book because there aren't many words on the pages, but the content of the book is enough to where they would learn lots from reading this book.

This would be a great book for a classroom library. The teacher could read this book as an opener to a writing assignment about why the seasons change. I think students would love to learn this material and would greatly benefit from it's content.

[Sue Pak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Earth and the orbit around space.
You can use this book to talk about how planets revolve around the sun, how it's day in one part of the world and night in the other. It talks about how seasons take place. It's a good book to read to the kids. It's written kind of with a poetic flow, so it makes it easy to read. However, kids will have to know the vocabulary related to it, because it has a lot of scientific vocabulary in it.

I recommend this for older children. 4th-5th.
The content of this book may be overwhelming to the younger kids, so I would focus on a certain topic and look more into that topic. (For instance, if you are going to talk about day & night..read the page(s) pertaining to that topic, and elaborate on it with something else.)

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some gorgeous and very educational illustrations in this book. This is a terrific introductory book for children about how the earth spins on its axis, why we have seasons, and other such scientific facts. I would have liked even more information but what’s provided is interesting. I think this book would be enjoyed most by a child who can read it for themselves, or perhaps read and shown aloud as a class project, but the way the information is presented, I don’t think it’s ideal for a read aloud book. I particularly liked the illustrations of both sides of the globe, one side showing day and the other night, very lovely and the concepts presented made easily understood.

[Elizabeth Woodruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you didn't know already, this is a book about the earth. It was written and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. He does a wonderful job explaining and showing the earth and its many cycles. He makes the concept of earth easy to understand for young children. This book also talks about the months and seasons. Karas's word choices throughout this book was very well done. I also enjoyed his illustrations of the earth. This book would be perfect to use in the classroom for explaining the earth and it's multiple layers. You could also teach the months and seasons with this book! I would highly recommend this book!

[Emily Houtchens · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book, the reader is taken through a simple explanation of seasons and time within the aspect of Earth's rotation.
This book was ok. It was rather short, simple, and a little boring since it didn't have a plot or storyline. It uses semi-complicated terms, but the pictures help illustrate what the words mean.
This would be a great book to incorporate in a lesson going over seasons and days in an older group to help them understand the why behind these things. It is a very informational, but simple and could help illustrate tough concepts.

[Caitlin Barclay]

This is a creatively illustrated book that explains how and why the earth rotates. The book uses birthdays, seasons, life changes, plant life cycles to connect to students about the rotation of the sun and earth. When the book talked about the rotation of the earth the words went into a circle. This is a great book for elementary students. The concepts of the rotation of the earth is a confusing topic but I would reread this book with any elementary grade.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This beautiful book describes for children how the earth works and how it causes tides of the ocean with the moon and the rotations of the earth. It describes how the earth’s rotation causes the turn of the seasons and the progression of the year. It also details how gravity keeps us fixed to the earth.
This would be a great opening book share for a science unit on the earth. It would also be a good first research project help book.

[Jessica Herd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book out loud to my children at an after school program and the older children really got into it because they knew a lot of the information already and they were ready to share that with me. The younger children enjoyed this as well because of the great pictures. I love that this book is bigger because it was easier to read to all the children, they were able to see the pictures clearly. I would use this book in my classroom whenever we talked about planets.

[Natalie Traylor]

This book describes Earth, and how it rotates on its axis, revolves around the Sun, and these determine the reasons. It gives examples of what the Earth is like during the seasons.

I would use this book when teaching my students what creates seasons, and when we are going over revolving/rotation. The students would complete an activity to tell me in which seasons are days longer and when are nights longer.

[Cassie Houck · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book goes explains how we live on earth and why the seasons change. It tells us why we can be upside down on the earth and never fall off, and even tells us how we rotate on an axis

I loved this book, the illustrations were wonderful, and the way it explained how the earth works was perfect for young but curious children.

I would have this book in my classroom for my library, especially if I taught around 2nd grade. I would read it aloud for an earth unit.

[Maddie Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is such a cute book to use in the classroom!! I think this would be a good book to read aloud to children, especially when you want to explain Earth's rotation and time concepts of days, months and years. It has eye-catching illustrations that I loved! Some of the diagrams might hard to understand for younger children, but I think with a little explaining they would be able to grasp it!

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Look at all the wonderful books I've discovered thanks to Family Fun. This is another book that will be wonderful to teach with. It covers the basic science needed to begin to understand geogrpahy. You know, the rotation of the Earth on axis, etc. It's fantastic. I'll be using this to begin our weekly Geography.