Title: Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos
Author: Stephanie Roth Sisson.
Target Age Range: 4-8
Lexile Reading Level: 760
Publisher: New York: Roaring Book Press
Publication Year: 2014
This book starts by detailing the life of a young and curious Carl Sagan and his
experience at the 1939 World’s Fair. This World’s Fair was like nothing that Carl
had ever seen; he had seen a time capsule with messages to the future at the
fair which is something he would imitate later in life. Carl was a very curious
young boy and he satisfies that hunger to know how and why things work by
going to the library. The book skips ahead to say that Carl continued to study
about life and space until he became Dr. Carl Sagan. He then went on television
to help people understand about stars, planets and beginnings of life and he
got ready to launch the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft to gather more
pictures and data about our solar system. On this voyage, the twin Voyagers
had a message from our world that was similar to a time capsule. That curious
little boy grew up to inspire many with his enthusiasm for space.
fair which is something he would imitate later in life. Carl was a very curious
young boy and he satisfies that hunger to know how and why things work by
going to the library. The book skips ahead to say that Carl continued to study
about life and space until he became Dr. Carl Sagan. He then went on television
to help people understand about stars, planets and beginnings of life and he
got ready to launch the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft to gather more
pictures and data about our solar system. On this voyage, the twin Voyagers
had a message from our world that was similar to a time capsule. That curious
little boy grew up to inspire many with his enthusiasm for space.
I was surprised that this book did not talk about his television show, Cosmos.
The book mentions that Carl wanted to share his excitement about space so
he went on TV but does not mention his show. The main thing that Carl did
accomplish was the twin Voyagers and that is the main part of this book.
This book should be apart of the collection because it is a fun picture book
that offers the child a story about one of our leading public speakers on
science and space. I was astonished that my library system only had this
title and another book for a children’s biography or nonfiction title on Carl
Sagan. The other title in the system only had a chapter on Carl Sagan and
it is not a read aloud or story time friendly book.
he went on TV but does not mention his show. The main thing that Carl did
accomplish was the twin Voyagers and that is the main part of this book.
This book should be apart of the collection because it is a fun picture book
that offers the child a story about one of our leading public speakers on
science and space. I was astonished that my library system only had this
title and another book for a children’s biography or nonfiction title on Carl
Sagan. The other title in the system only had a chapter on Carl Sagan and
it is not a read aloud or story time friendly book.
This book would be a good read-aloud because it has a little amount of text on
each page so a child could maintain their interest. The book also has a repeating
phrase of “Wowie!” said throughout the book so the reader could really put
some emphasis on that word when telling the story. An extension to do with
this story is to go to the NASA Kids’ Club or the NASA Space Place to find an
activity for the children to do depending on the age range. If you have older
kids, you could show a clip from the television program Cosmos or the
Pale Blue Dot video. One suggestion to do with preschoolers is to play a slow
song and pretend you’re on the moon by walking in slow motion. Another
suggestion for a younger crowd is to have the kids pretend they are rockets
blasting off into space with the song, “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom”. A possible craft
idea if you have older kids is to use markers to color planets on coffee filters
and then spray it with water afterwards to let the colors blend, once dry then
the kids can glue the planets on a black piece of construction paper.
each page so a child could maintain their interest. The book also has a repeating
phrase of “Wowie!” said throughout the book so the reader could really put
some emphasis on that word when telling the story. An extension to do with
this story is to go to the NASA Kids’ Club or the NASA Space Place to find an
activity for the children to do depending on the age range. If you have older
kids, you could show a clip from the television program Cosmos or the
Pale Blue Dot video. One suggestion to do with preschoolers is to play a slow
song and pretend you’re on the moon by walking in slow motion. Another
suggestion for a younger crowd is to have the kids pretend they are rockets
blasting off into space with the song, “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom”. A possible craft
idea if you have older kids is to use markers to color planets on coffee filters
and then spray it with water afterwards to let the colors blend, once dry then
the kids can glue the planets on a black piece of construction paper.
Similar Titles:
You're done with your first blog posting. Whee!
ReplyDeleteExcellent format and use of images.
I look forward to your next posting.
It looks like you have a whole program figured out that centers around this book! You could even make it into a family program so both older and younger siblings could come, and have stations for the different activities geared toward older or younger kids.
ReplyDelete