^ Emily’s Recommended Space Books for Kids
« Space Books for Kids Ages 0 to 3
« Space Books for Kids Ages 4 to 7
« Space Books for Kids Ages 8 to 12
By the time kids are in 8th grade, they’re able to read books written for adults, especially if they’re diving in to a topic they’re passionate about. So most of the books on this list are not technically kids’ books, but they do have features that curious kids will find attractive. For nonfiction, fact-oriented books, I look for good, well-captioned photos and illustrations, clear organization, and a structure that can be skimmed, skipped around, or started from somewhere in the middle, without needing to read the whole thing cover to cover. In biography, history, or memoir, I look for at least some pictures and an easy, engaging writing style. (Personally, I love young readers’ editions of history, biography, and memoir, even as an adult.) I also want to see models for lives and careers that teens can try on for themselves, consciously or subconsciously. I want to see past and present discrimination acknowledged, but teenage idealism and dreams encouraged. These books are diverse; you’ll have to judge your teen’s interests and reading level to select the right one for them.
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New Recommendations for 2022
More coming soon! 🪐
Phenomena: Doppelmayr’s Celestial Atlas (2022)
By Giles Sparrow with a foreword by Martin Rees, annotating and commenting on the 1742 work Atlas Coelestis by Johann Doppelmayr
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 022682411X
This is a remarkable book. It’s beautiful from the outside, embossed with gold text and with faux marbled endpapers. Inside is a fascinating and surprisingly easy-to-read work of annotation, commentary, and context on a landmark cosmic atlas of the early 18th century. We’ve all read histories of astronomy that print one plate from such atlases with a brief comment on what they got right and what they got wrong. This book is quite different. It prints Doppelmayr’s plates full size, then follows the full-size print with details cropped from the original and captioned with explanations and context. Illustrated essays before each plate add even more historical and cultural context, and explain the development of scientific thought that led to the science portrayed in it. Martin Rees’s foreword briefly and effectively places the Atlas Coelestis into its contemporary context — after Kepler and Newton explained the motions of the planets, but before the expeditions to observe the transit of Venus established the scale of the solar system. It’s intimidating at first (it weighs more than 2 kilos!), but the text is very accessible and the images lavish; I was sucked in instantly. This book is not just for lovers of astronomy. I’d also recommend it to anyone interested in the history of science or even to anyone studying 18th century literature, which is packed with references to new understanding of the heavens.
Seven Stories about the Moon: and 101 Other Science Poems (2018)
Edited by Penny Boyce and Katie Coppens
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1943431337
This wide-ranging poetry anthology includes works about everything from ants to exoplanets. A few are familiar, some of them quite old, but most aren’t; many were recently written. It’s a pleasingly broad mix of voices and styles, some of them accessible, some less so. A few very interesting selections use the words of well-known scientists like Marie Curie and Anton van Leeuwenhoek, arranged by poets to form verse. My only quibble with the book, and the reason I knocked off a star, is for the low quality of the printing; the paper is so thin that words show through not only from the back of the previous page but the front of the one before that, and the format of the book is too floppy and big to hold in one hand for reading aloud.
Favorites from Previous Years
Note: I’m still working on repopulating this list from various sources. It’ll grow.
Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson (2020)
By Katherine Johnson
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1534440844
Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist (2020)
Camino a las estrellas: Mi recorrido de Girl Scout a ingeniera astronáutica (2020)
By Sylvia Acevedo
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0358206936/1328534812
Imagined Life: A Speculative Scientific Journey among the Exoplanets in Search of Intelligent Aliens, Ice Creatures, and Supergravity Animals (2019)
By James Trefil and Michael Summers
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1588346641
Constellations: The Story of Space Told Through the 88 Known Star Patterns in the Night Sky (2019)
By Govert Schilling, with cartographer Wil Tirion
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0316483885
Dr Space Junk vs The Universe: Archaeology and the Future (2019)
By Alice Gorman
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0262043432
Visual Galaxy: The Ultimate Guide to the Milky Way and Beyond (2019)
By National Geographic with a foreword by Chris Hadfield
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 142622060X
See You in the Cosmos (2018)
By Jack Cheng
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0399186387
Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space (2018)
By Libby Jackson, illustrated by students from the London College of Communication
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1781314500
Chasing Space: Young Readers’ Edition (2018)
By Leland Melvin
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0062665936
Hidden Human Computers (2017)
By Sue Bradford Edwards and Duchess Harris
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1680783874
Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet (2017)
By Dallas Campbell
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 9781471164057
Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America’s Pioneering Woman in Space (2015)
By Tam O’Shaughnessy
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1596439947
Apollo: The Panoramas (2015)
By Mike Constantine
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0993373100
Note: while this book is unavailable on Amazon, it can be bought directly from the source at moonpans.com.
Cosmos: The Infographic Book of Space (2015)
By Stuart Lowe and Chris North
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1781314500
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014)
By Randall Munroe
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0544272994