A little girl and her father have an opportunity to appreciate the wonders of the night sky.
Phoebe helps her dad set up telescopes on the sidewalk outside his store. It’s a special night — Saturn and Mars are going to appear together in the sky. But will Phoebe be able to see them with all the city lights?
Raindrops begin to fall, followed by lightning and thunder. Phoebe is filled with disappointment as she and her father hurry inside to wait out the storm.
But suddenly the power fails and then, amazingly, the rain and clouds disappear. Phoebe and her dad and all kinds of people spill into the street. And there, in the bright night sky, the splendor of the planets and a multitude of stars are revealed for all to see.
An illustrated afterword includes information about the solar system, planetary conjunctions and rings, moons, telescopes and light pollution. A glossary and recommended further reading are also included.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
A little girl and her father have an opportunity to appreciate the wonders of the night sky.
Phoebe helps her dad set up telescopes on the sidewalk outside his store. It’s a special night — Saturn and Mars are going to appear together in the sky. But will Phoebe be able to see them with all the city lights?
Raindrops begin to fall, followed by lightning and thunder. Phoebe is filled with disappointment as she and her father hurry inside to wait out the storm.
But suddenly the power fails and then, amazingly, the rain and clouds disappear. Phoebe and her dad and all kinds of people spill into the street. And there, in the bright night sky, the splendor of the planets and a multitude of stars are revealed for all to see.
An illustrated afterword includes information about the solar system, planetary conjunctions and rings, moons, telescopes and light pollution. A glossary and recommended further reading are also included.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
| Published By | Groundwood Books Ltd — May 1, 2015 |
| Specifications | 32 pages | 8.9 in x 10.88 in |
| Keywords | further reading; |
|
Supporting Resources
(select item to download) |
Teacher's Guide |
| Written By |
UMA KRISHNASWAMI was born in India and now lives in Victoria, BC. Her Book Uncle trilogy includes the bestselling Book Uncle and Me, winner of the ILA Social Justice Literature Award, Birds on the Brain and The Sunshine Project. Her picture books include Look! Look! and Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, both illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. She has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Uma is faculty emerita in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. |
| Illustrated by |
AIMÉE SICURO is an award-winning illustrator who recently published her first picture book, Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami, which has been highly acclaimed. |
| Written By |
|
UMA KRISHNASWAMI was born in India and now lives in Victoria, BC. Her Book Uncle trilogy includes the bestselling Book Uncle and Me, winner of the ILA Social Justice Literature Award, Birds on the Brain and The Sunshine Project. Her picture books include Look! Look! and Out of the Way! Out of the Way!, both illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. She has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Uma is faculty emerita in the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. |
| Illustrated by |
|
AIMÉE SICURO is an award-winning illustrator who recently published her first picture book, Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami, which has been highly acclaimed. |
| Audience | ages 6 to 9 / grades 1 to 4 |
| Reading Levels | Lexile AD770L |
| Key Text Features | afterword; glossary; further reading; diagrams |
| Common Core |
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7 |
“Capture[s] a strong sense of a special, shared moment.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Krishnaswami’s elegant, understated writing focuses . . . on Phoebe’s hopes, disappointments, and curiosities, as well as her tender relationship with her father. Newcomer Sicuro’s mixed-media illustrations are similarly attentive to the story’s emotions.” —Publishers Weekly
“In addition to a sweet, resonating, multi-culti father-who-encourages-STEM-for-his-daughter story, you’ll also enjoy a rather extensive astronomy lesson . . . as well as a detailed reminder on the importance of going green.” —BookDragon
“A warm and wonderful ode to the universe for the modern urban astronomer.” —Brain Pickings
“This story of a young girl of color with a passion for science will fill a gap in many collections.” —Booklist
“Sicuro captures the wonder of “how deep the night was and how endless” through a series of circular drawings and collages . . . as Krishnaswami’s near-breathless prose recounts first one and then another of the sights now visible.” —Horn Book
“A gentle tale of a shared father/daughter enterprise, and Sicuro’s mixed-media illustrations, with their gauzy chalk and translucent watercolor touches, convey both the objective and emotive pleasures of stargazing.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books