Discover the Stars. (Kids Can Read, Level 3). Cynthia Pratt Nicolson. Illustrated by Bill Slavin. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2006. 32 pp., pbk. & cl., $5.95 (pbk.), $14.95 (cl.). ISBN 1-55337-899-7 (pbk.), ISBN 1-55337-898-9 (cl.). Subject Heading: Stars-Juvenile literature. Grades 1-3 / Ages 6-8. Review by Jeannette Timmerman. ***˝ /4

excerpt:

How do stars grow old?

Over a very long time, stars begin to burn out. When this happens, they get bigger and become a reddish color. After that, the stars shrink to a much smaller size and become white. These small white stars are called white dwarf stars. White dwarf stars are usually about the size of Earth.

Discover the Stars is a level 3 book in the “Kids Can Read” series. A level 3 book is considered one that a child can read alone. A young independent reader should find this book in her/his range. Cynthia Pratt Nicolson is a children's science writer and elementary school teacher who has written a number of non-fiction books for Kids Can Press and numerous articles for Owl and other magazines.

     Discover the Stars has a contents page listing the five chapters: All about Stars, Looking at Stars, Constellations, The Life of Stars, and Galaxies. There is no glossary. A simple one would have been an asset, but the book is very usable without it.

     In each chapter, a number of questions are posed. For example, in the chapter All About Stars, some of the questions are: What is a star? Is the sun a star? How many stars are there? What color are the stars? What is a shooting star? The answers give enough information to satisfy a young reader who is learning about stars for the first time, and the responses may well trigger the reader's interest in doing more research.

     Illustrations and photographs are in colour. Drawings of constellations are white dots and lines on a dark blue background which make the shapes of the constellations stand out clearly.

     Print size and spaces between lines are ample. These features will assist the young reader. In addition, pages have lots of white space around the print, illustrations and photographs so the amount of information on each page is not overwhelming. This is another plus for young readers.

      Discover the Stars is a fascinating book for young readers.

Highly Recommended.

Jeannette Timmerman is a former teacher and principal with the Winnipeg School Division.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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