Customer Reviews

Me and My Place in Space (Dragonfly Books)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We use this book and its predecessor, Me On The Map, to teach map concepts in First grade. Children this age generally have difficulty with the "nesting" idea of these things--that you can be in a county, state, country, continent, on a planet, and in a solar system, all at once. These books do a good job of making this more tangible and easier to grasp. It is especially effective when students do a re-write following the reading and personalize it to their own place on the map.

Great illustrations, and informative non-fiction for preschoolers. I am a big beleiver in improving young children's vocabulary through non-fiction reading. This book series will help keep your youngsters attention while you talk to him/her about the world around us. A couple sentences per page. If you want to read another science series with more reading and more detail, but still great illustrations try the "Let's read and find out science" series including "Why Frogs are Wet" and many others.

My one year old daugher and I read this book at least once a day. She loves the illustrations-like the space suit with pop beads for the oxygen line. It is not too wordy, so she stays engaged, yet provides all the basic information about our solar system and planets. She can now identify the pictures of the moon and the earth by name and knows that earth is where she lives. An animal lover, she also likes that the cat journeys into space. My daughter and I often look at the night sky, and she knows the ASL signs for moon and stars. I think that is why she loves this book so much despite her young age. This is a wonderful introduction to basic astronomy, and has spurred me to order more books on space for us to share.

We got this book when my then 27 month old told me he wanted to be an astronaut (still not sure where that came from). Within 3 days he was quizzing me on the planets. That said, this is a great introduction and at 2 it was too hard for him to understand the concepts of galaxy, etc. He is now 2.5y and still loves this book, we have moved on to more detailed books but he loves to sit and read this one to his doll at night (much of it is memorized as his reading level is not this high yet). That said, I would not buy this for a child past Kindergarten and even then it would be based on their knowledge and ability level as it may be too easy. Pluto is still included but this book was published well prior to the 2006 change in status so maybe an update would be due. We often just skipped over it at first and now take it to discuss the dwarf planets.

I bought this book to introduce a unit on Saturn for my third grade class. When I first scanned the book I thought maybe I'd made a mistake and bought something beneath their level. Not so! I read it aloud to them & they loved it. They all wanted to take it home to read again.

I ordered this book because I loved Me on the Map. This book was fine, but not really worth buying--just rent from the library.

It isn't that there is much to criticize, although I understand some people's concern that Pluto is still listed as one of the nine planets. (I actually didn't mind because I was brought up on Pluto and prefer my children to remember it.) But it just wasn't that valuable as an addition to the library. Each planet is explained in order, with nice pictures and a couple easy facts which kids can appreciate. The distance away from the sun is included for each. But there is really nothing else. At the end the child asks the question is there could be another galaxy, solar system, planet, person like them, so kids get the point of the hierarchy. But I found that a kind of silly way to end the book. I wish it had been a little more informative.

A great book with basic information about the planets. Unfortunately it says there are 9 planets instead of 8, but otherwise, great!

The book is inaccurate since it lists Pluto as a planet. There are a lot better space books out there for kids that have been updated. I wouldn't waste your time with this one. I'm sending it back.

This book along with the other books in this series is a wonderfully captivating way to teach kids in an entertaining way. Fabulous!

We bought this for my 4yo-who has been interested in all things space since she was just over 2yo-for her 3rd birthday. She loves this book-it certainly has helped her learn the planets. The illustrations are fun and not too grown-up. I think this is the perfect introduction to space for preschoolers.