What Makes Day and Night?

Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2

by Franklyn M. Branley, Arthur Dorros (Illustrator)

If you lived on the moon, you would have two straight weeks of daylight and then two weeks of night! On earth, we have both day and night in just twenty-four hours, thanks to the quick rotation of our planet. This classic picture book uses simple, fun diagrams and a guided experiment to explain what makes day and night.

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

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Franklyn M. Branley was the originator of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series and the author of close to 150 popular books about scientific topics for young readers of all ages. He was Astronomer Emeritus and former Chairman of the American Museum of Natural History-Hayden Planetarium.

Reviews

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dull dot-eye illustrations.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I liked the part when it taught me about day & night😆. The earth turning makes day and night😶.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice explanation about day and night with some good 60s print illustrations. Sadly the copy used to put this on open library has some graffiti, one page has a swastika drawn on it.

Read on Open Library.

[Emily Mote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary:
This book provides knowledge for readers about the Earth's orbit and how it causes day and night. After explaining this concept, the book offers a hands-on activity for children to try to better understand the cause of day and night.

Evaluation:
I think this book does an incredible job of explaining the orbit of the Earth in kid-friendly language. The explanations are short, but thorough for young readers to understand. I also love that the book offers a fun activity to help display the orbit of the Earth and the suns light on Earth.

Teaching Ideas:
I would use this book in science class to teach my students about the Earth's orbit. I would read this book as an interactive read aloud to introduce the topic. I would then allow the students to try the orbit activity described in the book, which involved shining a flashlight and spinning slowly, to show how light from the sun hits different parts of the Earth throughout the orbit.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awards: None
Grade level: PreK-2
Summary: Through a simple explanations, learn how the earth rotates and creates day and night. There are also activities/demonstration for students to better understand this concept.
My Review: I really like this book because it more storybook-like than other nonfiction books that I have seen. I really like how there is an activity/demonstration within the book because not everyone can understand this concert through text. Although it is a little repetitive, I think it’s a good book for little learners since they need the repetition.
In Class: One activity to do in class is to have a Venn diagram where students can sort day and night things (sun, stars, moon, clouds, etc). Another activity students can do is keep a sunset log. Once a week, they can record when the sun goes down and that can lead into a lesson about the seasons.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Browsing books to give my friends' children as gifts since I won't gift anything I haven't first read myself.

I've found quite a few of the books in this series to be unexpectedly engaging, managing to be equal parts informative and interesting. That being said, this one fell flat for me. It covered the topic fine, but lacked the "something extra" from the books that really impressed and made me think "this is giftable to the right child" vs "read like a first grade science text book." This one is a library borrow at most.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice, basic introduction into the concept of the Earth's rotation and how it causes day and night. The illustrations are a little dated, but the data is timeless. My only issue, really, is that the text is a little too difficult for the early readers that would benefit from a simple introduction like this. Older kids are likely to be underwhelmed by the information and format, but younger kids would need help with the reading, and the text is too clunky to really enjoy reading aloud.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply worded science book on how day and night work. A simple and doable experience (all you need is a flashlight) introduced, and illustrations that both are real and help understanding for young children to grasp how day and night are “made”.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It accomplishes its purpose of explaining how we have day and night. I just think there are probably better books out there on the subject. I found myself skipping some of the text as I was reading it to my kids as the information was too repetitive - even for a 3 and 5 year old.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple science concepts about the Earth's rotation and light are presented alongside appealing woodcut-style illustrations of the sort that we are once again seeing with some of today's art (though normally not in kids' books).

[Set · Rating 3 out of 5]

The science lesson and graphs are great, the illustrations could use some help. They visually help children understand the North and South Pole; the path the earth takes and the direction of our Sun from our Earth.

[Makenna Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a simple, yet informational take on the ideas of day and night. Great illustrations and easy to understand.
ATOS:2.8
Guided Reading: N
6+1 Traits: Presentation, Ideas, Organization

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

ATOS 2.8

[Georgina Rump · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and with an easy experiment. Very easy to read.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic book. It was a smidge over my little one’s head but we’ll revisit it again later when he’s a little older.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic facts, for all that they are rather older books.

[Emily Holter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was originally printed in 1961, but this copy has been completely revised with a new illustrator. I chose this book for a good, informational book, because it will have kindergarten or 1st grade students understanding the answers to typical science questions about the world.

It starts out by telling the reader, "You live on the planet earth. I live on the earth. We all live on the earth. The earth is round. The earth looks like a big, big ball. A ball is a sphere." It just continues on, giving the reader facts that are easy to understand.

I especially liked a few parts in this book. One example is where it shows an illustration of the earth as if you were looking at it from space. The text reads, "If you were far, far, out in space the earth would look like this. You can see how big it is. The red dot is New York City. Many boys and girls livei n New York City. The black dot is San Fransisco. San Fransisco has a big bridge." As a teacher, it may be hard to explain all of these facts to students, but this book is written so easily that it will have students understanding.

Another favorite part of mine is when the author is explaining how the earth spins. It then says, "Do this experiment. Play that you are the earth." It then goes into detail on how to do the experiment. Teachers could read this book for a space lesson, and in the middle of reading, the teacher could have the students stand up and do this experiment.

The end of the book seems to list the objectives after reading this book. (This is something teachers will understand)! It says, "Now you know:" and then lists what the reader should know about the earth after reading this book. This is a great way to review the content after reading. I would make a KWL chart or a bubble map after reading this book with my students. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I WILL use it in my classroom!

[Tracy Poff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why is it sometimes night, and other times day? Why does the sun seem to move across the sky? Does the moon have day and night?

These questions (and a few more) are answered in a clear and understandable fashion by the excellent children's picture book What Makes Day and Night by Franklyn M. Branley, illustrated by Arthur Dorros.

What Makes Day and Night is a Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book, which explains that the Earth is round, and rotates once a day, causing the apparent movement of the sun across the sky, and therefore causing day and night. This explanation is accompanied by great illustrations, as well as a beautiful photograph of Earth, taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft, which help make these basic science facts accessible to the young reader.

I'd highly recommend What Makes Day and Night for young children. It encourages curiosity and a rational view of the world, excellent accomplishments for any children's book.

This review also appears on my blog.

[Neely]

AR

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: Ds read aloud to me as his non-fiction reader.

This book is still in print but has been completely revised and is not the same as the old edition we have here. A simple, easy-to-read introduction to the earth's shape and how it revolves to create night and day, sunsets and sunrises. An experiment with a lamp is used to further illustrate the process. This book was fairly easy for ds to read and gave him a chance to practice reading using a conversational voice. He also knew the information and it caused him to initiate dialogue to expand upon the basic observations and impart his own knowledge. I love this series of books; they are excellent easy readers in the science field and Branley is a good, interesting writer of non-fiction material. Branley was the originator of the series.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

These series of books (Let's Read and Find Out Science) are awesome! Carsten loves them all and has learned so much from them (as have I)! This one was especially good, as are "Volcanoes", "How A Seed Grows", "From Caterpillar to Butterfly", "What is the World Made Of", & "The Planets in Our Solar System". These are always a big hit with my little curious scientist. They are no literary accomplishment, but they explain concepts very clearly, on a level appropriate for 4 and up, and interestingly enough to keep the attention of a young child.

[Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

For kindergarten children, this excellent book explains to students how the rotation of the earth causes day and night. During my kindergarten placement, I actually read this book to the whole class as part of my lesson on day and night. Prior to reading the book, I asked the students what animals they saw during the day and during the night. Next, I asked the students if they knew what causes day and night. The students didn’t know, as a result, this book was used in the classroom to help students understand that the earth slowly rotates around the sun.

[Firstgradejags · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this book to learn why we have night and day. We learned that when it is daylight on one side of the earth, it is night time on the other side of the earth because the sun only shines on part of the earth at a time. But the most interesting thing we learned was about the moon. We learned that one moon day = 14 of our days and one moon night = 14 of our nights

[Takishia Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book that explained what makes day and night. I would read this book to my Kindergarteners and First Graders. This book really does give a good explanation as to what makes the day and night. I would have my students make a text to self connection by asking them what do they notice that happens in the day versus the night.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

PRETTY GOOD BOOK. But there somethings in the book we are sure to know. SO WHY PUT IT IN? JUST IN CASE THEY DON'T KNOW. Good experiment maybe I'll try. BUT I WON'T! WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN. Maybe the illustrations just show that it works when it really doesn't. YOU KNOW WHAT, MAYBE I WILL TRY IT.

FRANKLIN MANSFIELD BRANLEY

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

For children asking the basic questions about why it's dark at night and light in the daytime, this title provides basic answers in clear simple text. Mostly ilustrated but one clear photograph of the earth from space that is sure to delight the curious.

[Sheniqua · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains a great deal of factual info about what makes it day and what makes it night. It includes information about the earth and how it turns. I would use this book for Kindergarten to discuss what day and night is.

[Kelli Dana]

This book is great for explaining the difference in day and night. The book also provided characteristics of both as well.
This book is perfect for Kindergarten. However it would also work for pre-kindergarten up to first grade.

[Joyce Munzwandi]

Grade alevel: K-2nd

The book guides the reader into what makes day and night and uses clear and definitive illustrations that students wil enjoy. Its a factual book that helsp students connect with their everyday experiences.

[Evelyn Matias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a simple explanation of why the world has night and day. That the earth is constantly moving and how long it takes to rotate one time completly. I would use this in my class to help with the understanding of the earth and why we have night and days.