^ 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 13 and up »

Kids in this age group are reading independently, either doing research for school projects or following their own interests. I want books that explain the things we know in ways that are accessible, but that also inspire questions and curiosity and wonder. Factual accuracy is extremely important, because kids this age love did-you-know facts. I also pay very close attention to the image choices, to see that they are paired well with the text and that, when they feature humans, the faces and bodies are diverse. Kids grow a lot during this time in both maturity and reading skill; the books on this list span that jarring transition from picture books to chapter books. If you’re buying for a kid you don’t know well, ask a parent if they’re reading chapter books yet before you make your choices.

All links from book titles and covers on this page go to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you buy them through these links. But I also provide the ISBN for every book to make it easy for you to find the book at the website of your choice, or to order from your neighborhood independent bookstore. Do you find these book reviews useful? Please consider supporting me on Patreon if so!

!–SKY GAZING–>

New Recommendations for 2022

More coming soon! 🪐

Sky Gazing: A Guide to the Moon, Sun, Planets, Stars, Eclipses, and Constellations (2020)

By Meg Thatcher
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1635860962

An outstanding, information-packed encyclopedia on all things in the sky for curious kids, in a big format. Despite the fact that I’m reviewing this book in 2020, it still seems up-to-the-minute, including recent missions like InSight at Mars, beautiful Cassini images from Saturn, VLA images of protoplanetary disks, and it even mentions Dragonfly being developed for its future mission to Titan. Images are well-selected, diagrams clear and colorful. Southern hemisphere and equatorial skygazing are included alongside the northern hemisphere. Activities are integrated into the factual text every few pages, and they’re written so that even if a kid doesn’t do the activity, just reading it will explain the point. Every page rewards attention. As with any book containing so many facts, I noticed errors here and there (like a picture caption swapping the names of Phobos and Deimos, or referring to Charon as a “captured” object); this book is otherwise so excellent that it deserves a second edition to take care of such minor errata. It does bother me that the sources of most images are not indicated, a general problem with children’s books. The next book on this list makes a great practical observing guide as a companion to this compendium.

Constellations for Kids: An Easy Guide to Discovering the Stars (2020)

By Kelsey Johnson
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1635860962

A really good book to help star-loving kids (not to mention parents new to skygazing) locate constellations in the northern hemisphere sky. The language is geared toward younger children, 6- to 9-year-olds. It explains how to measure distances from the horizon with your fist and how the stars move with the seasons, then suggests constellations to find at 9pm in each of the four seasons (8pm, for winter), assigning each a “beginner” to “advanced” level. Each constellation gets a two-page spread, and a feature I especially like is that for most constellations, Johnson mentions alternate stories from other cultures. I wish there was a thumbnail all-sky chart on each constellation page that would help with orientation, but there are all-sky charts in the back. This book makes a very nice companion to the previous one on this list; it’s a practical observing guide where Sky Gazing is not, but it’s very slim on facts about anything in the sky, which Sky Gazing is full of.

Favorites from Previous Years

Black Women in Science: A Black History Book for Kids (2019)

By Kimberly Brown Bellum, illustrated by Keisha Morris
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1641527072

This chapter book contains 15 biographies of African-American women who had dreams, worked hard, endured and then recovered from setbacks, and achieved astonishing things. Many are associated with aerospace: aviator Bessie Coleman, NASA computers and rocket scientists Katherine Johnson, Gladys West, and Annie Easley; and astronaut Mae Jemison. The storytelling is excellent, clearly written to provide middle-grade students with models of courage, persistence, and self-confidence. Each biography finishes with suggestions for how to learn more about each woman, and for activities designed to help kids develop independent skill and self-confidence. For GPS designer Gladys West, Pellum suggests the reader draw a map of their own neighborhood; for Margaret Strickland Collins (the first African-American woman entomologist) Pellum suggests the reader ask their family members about what their jobs are and what they like about what they do. The book ends with two biographies of two young scientists, born in the 1980s (Renee Gordon and Gina Presley), providing examples of what modern careers just coming into their maturity look like, to help kids visualize pathways toward the sometimes intimidating figures of modern heroes.

Through the Night Sky: A collection of amazing adventures under the stars (2020)

By Anita Ganeri for DK
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 1465481508

A beautiful picture book that can grow with a child from ages 6 to 12, Through The Night Sky explores things that happen at night from the local to the cosmic. Its first chapter or two would be perfect as a bedtime book to read aloud to a younger child, beginning with the quiet night flight of a barn owl and the magic of fireflies. As the book proceeds to the night sky, milky way, Moon phases, eclipses, aurorae, meteors, and travel into the stars, the concepts get more challenging, but the brief text is still flavored with wonder. The design is also gorgeous, although its dark pages might, ironically, be difficult to read in a dim bedroom. I am dinging it one star for some issues around the lunar phases — the illustrations on several pages show stars on what should be the night side of the Moon, and the description of the cycle of phases is inaccurate — but except for that one criticism, it’s a beautiful gift book that will last a long time on a child’s shelf.

Your Place in the Universe (2020)

By Jason Chin
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 0823446239 

This picture book steps from the scale of kids looking through a telescope up through giraffes and buildings to the solar system and eventually the entire universe, stating the sizes and some other awe-inspiring facts about the grandness of space. It is beautifully illustrated. The text is a little dry, list after list of numbers and facts; but they are very large and impressive facts.

Geology Is a Piece of Cake (2020)

By Katie Coppens
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1943431280

This book is brilliant. It’s an excellent and thorough introduction to geology that, on every page, asks and answers the question: What does this have to do with cake? Every concept is explained first, in scientific terms, and then, by analogy to cake. Delicious, delicious cake. The book contains 7 cake recipes that seem fairly easy to follow (note that I have not actually attempted to make any of them, so I don’t know how easy they actually are. I will update if/when I try some of them), and Coppens related steps in the process of the recipe to the concepts covered in the chapter they contain. This seems like a delicious, if perhaps not too healthy, way to learn about geology at home. My only nitpick is that there’s no index or table of contents to the recipes; but they’re all located on right-side pages so it’s fairly easy to flip through the short book to find them fast.

Sports Stars: Astronomy for the Sports Fan in All of Us (2020)
U.S. Women’s Soccer Edition
NFL QB Edition
Top NBA Players Edition

By Scott Rockfield
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 1734142111 

The Sports Stars picture book series has an unusual and creative conceit: it recasts ten classical northern hemisphere constellations as well-known figures in U.S. professional sports (pro football, men’s basketball, and women’s soccer). The constellations are the same for all 3 books: Ursa Major, Cygnus, Pegasus, Cassiopeia, Cephus, Gemini, Lyra, Leo, Hercules, and Libra. Star groupings are overlaid with an illustration of the player that fits the shape of the constellation no better or worse than the classical ones do, and the brightest star in the constellation is called out by its traditional name (in both Arabic and Latin). On the facing page there are some biographical facts and a list of sports accomplishments for each player.

These books aren’t for every kid, clearly. But for a kid who’s obsessed with the NFL or NBA or USWNT, it’d be a fun way to get them looking up. The fact that the players are paired with traditional constellations will get them to recognize patterns in the sky that make sense to other people (I will say that the pairing of Peyton Manning in the NFL book with Cassiopeia made me giggle.) One of these books could be used in a classroom to spur kids to describe the constellations with their own theme.

By the way, the NBA book is recent enough to acknowledge Kobe Bryant’s tragic death.

The Space Race: The Journey to the Moon and Beyond (2019)

by Sarah Cruddas (foreword by Eileen Collins)
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1465481451

Scratching the Surface: Generation Mars, Prelude (0) (2019)

By Douglas Meredith, illustrated by Luis Peres
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1733731008

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (2017, expanded 2019)

By Brian Floca
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1534440305 

Watcher of the Skies: Poems about Space and Aliens (2019)

Edited by Rachel Piercey and Emma Wright
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1910139432

Science Comics: Rockets: Defying Gravity (2018)

by Anne Drozd and Jerzy Drozd, introduction by Emily Lakdawalla
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1626728259

Science Comics: Solar System (2018)

by Rosemary Mosco and Josh Chad
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1626728259

Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon (2018)

By Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1682630137

I Love You, Michael Collins (2018)

By Lauren Baratz-Logsted
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 1250158451

Impact!: Asteroids and the Science of Saving the World (Scientists in the Field Series, 2017)

by Elizabeth Rusch, photos by Karin Anderson
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0544671597

Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt (Scientists in the Field Series, 2017)

By Mary Kay Carson
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0544416716

Exploring Space: From Galileo to the Mars Rover and Beyond (2017)

By Martin Jenkins, illustrated by Stephen Biesty
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 0763689319

Mars: The Red Planet: Rocks, Rovers, Pioneers, and More! (2016)

By Elizabeth Carney
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 1426327544

Sally Ride: A Photobiography of America’s Pioneering Woman in Space (2015, reprinted 2017)

By Tam O’Shaughnessy
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1250129613

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon (2015)

By Catherine Thimmesh
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 0618507574

Adventures in Space Series (2015)
Yuri Gagarin and the Race to Space and
Neil Armstrong and Getting to the Moon

By Ben Hubbard
ISBN: 1484625145, 148462520X

Sally Ride and the Shuttle Missions and
Chris Hadfield and the International Space Station

By Andrew Langley
ISBN: 1484625218, 1484625226
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐

The Race to the Moon: An Interactive History Adventure (2014)

By Allison Lassieur
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
ISBN: 1476552169

Lowriders in Space (2014)

By Cathy Camper, illustrated by Raúl the Third
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 1452128693 

Man on the Moon: How a Photograph Made Anything Seem Possible (Captured History) (Captured History series, 2011)

By Pamela Jain Dell
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 0756544475

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream (2009)

By Tanya Lee Stone
My review on LibraryThing 🪐🪐🪐🪐⚪
ISBN: 0763645028