Do Stars Have Points?: Questions and Answers about Stars and Planets (Scholastic Question & Answer) [Hardcover]

Melvin Berger (Author), Gilda Berger (Author), Vincent Di Fate (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Series: Scholastic Question & Answer

Questions and answers explore various aspects of stars and our solar system, including the sun, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-A series of questions about weather and astronomy that children will find intriguing. How and why the weather changes; why there are different clouds; and the driest, wettest, coldest, and hottest places on Earth are typical of the topics covered in Rain. Stars includes how stars are formed; why Mars is red; theories on the formation of the universe; and the life of our sun, moon, galaxies, and planets. The illustrations in Rain are clear and bright but somewhat static, while those in Stars are dramatic. Although the books are designed for browsing, good indexing makes the information easily accessible for basic reports.
Kathryn Kosiorek, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The question and answer format of this book is out of this world- and sometimes out of this galaxy- as it presents the stars, planets and space in an intriguing, lively and understandable way. Children will enjoy browsing through the attractive illustrations or reading in-depth to gain a basic and comprehensive knowledge of space. A 2000 Parents' Choice® Recommended winner.

Reviewed by Sarah Achenbach, Parents' Choice® 2000 -- From Parents' Choice® --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590130803
• ISBN-13: 978-0590130806
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,672,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice overview in a Q&A format, February 5, 2004

By 

christinemm - The Thinking Mother (Houston Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Scholastic Question & Answer: Do Stars Have Points? (Paperback)

Although slotted for the age range 9-12, I read it aloud to my 6 year old and he understood and enjoyed the book. The format is question and answer, which you may or may not like. We found it fine, as many address common questions. The answers are detailed with many statistics and what some would call "trivia". The tone of the writing is not patronizing and it seems to cover just enough information for an overview.

The subjects covered are: stars, our sun, explanation of "sun rising and setting", galaxies, the Milky Way, constellations, planets, orbits of plants, earths rotation, earths composition, Earth's atmosphere vs. space, our moon, asteroids, comets, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites, is there life elsewhere and what are some unanswered questions we still have? This is a good overview. Note that each planet is discussed in one paragraph. I feel that for a more thorough study we will need to delve into each planet a bit more, but this book was enough information on all the other topics it covers. The picture books on each planet by Seymour Simon are wonderful for getting more information on each planet and for their great illustrations.

The illustrations in this book are drawings, which are nice but not as great as some of the wonderful photographs that are available. I am granting this 4 stars due to the illustrations being all drawings, and because of the lack of detail on each planet. I suggest supplementing this book with at least browsing through some other books such as coffee table books or other adult books about space so that the child can get a different perspective and to appreciate the beauty that is captured in our modern high tech photography.