You Are Stardust
by Elin Kelsey
illustrated by Soyeon Kim
Owlkids Books, 2012
ISBN 978-1-926973-35-7 $18.95, 32 pp, ages 4 – 8
owlkidsbooks.com
You Are Stardust is an exquisite picture book that combines lyrical text with three-dimensional dioramas to explore the connections between the lives of young readers and the natural world around them. The book opens by presenting the idea that: “You are stardust. Every tiny atom in your body came from a star that exploded long before you were born.” The text moves on to illustrate how children grow and change in a similar way to other living things in their ecosystem. The concepts in this book are based on science research and are explained in more detail at the following website: owlkidsbooks.com/stardust
Classroom Connections: You Are Stardust is a gift for any primary teacher who is looking for a way to introduce some big science ideas to young learners. A good fit for earth science topics and environmental themes, this book would also be an effective catalyst for developing connecting, questioning and inferring skills. The illustrations are dioramas that are constructed from a combination of real-life objects, sketches, painting and collaging techniques. Now, doesn’t sharing this book with your class sound like a good idea before setting out the art and craft materials?
Review by Brenda Boreham.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Nov/Dec 2013 issue.
