Real Kids. Good Books.

Older Than the Stars (2010) by Karen C. Fox, illustrated by Nancy Davis

You are older than the dinosaurs.
Older than the earth.
Older than the sun and all the planets.
You are older than the stars.
You are as old as the universe itself.

And that should wrap up this little review right there. Wow. Head exploding wow.

Older Than the Stars is a tour through the birth of our universe and all the ways we humans are connected to the birth and death of stars. It’s a great read, but I would quibble that this could have been two books. Along with a very clear description about how various atoms were formed from exploding stars, there is a “this is the house that Jack built” type of rhyme. 

These are the people just like you
who live with the plants and animals, too,
that grow on the planet green and blue
that circles the sun, our daily view,
that was born from the dust, so old and new…

And that rhyme— fun as it is to read— distracts from the more detailed scientific descriptions. So in the fantasy world where I would get to make this decision: Take the simpler rhyme and use it for a younger kids book and leave the detailed explanations for an older kids book. But even with this little quibble, this is a wonderful book to share with kids, and Carl Sagan would agree: ”We are made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.” 

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