The Lives of Stars - Hardcover

This handsomely designed, large-format volume features spectacular images of stars, nebulae, and galaxies on glossy pages. Most of the pictures are digitally enhanced, space-telescope images, while a few are clearly labeled as artists’ conceptions. The author of See the Stars (2000) and Ten Worlds (2006), as well as several books for adults, astronomer Croswell here presents a great deal of information about stars and how they change over time. Topics include “The Birthplace of Stars,” “Red Giants,” “Double Stars,” and “Extrasolar Planets.” Though no sources are listed, an index and a detailed glossary are appended. The book’s intended audience is puzzling, since it sometimes seems to address young children (“Some stars are blue. Some stars are white. Some stars, like the Sun, are yellow”), while at other times both the reading level and the concepts are a good deal more challenging (“Most interstellar hydrogen gas is made of separate hydrogen atoms. Each hydrogen atom has one proton, a particle with positive electric charge”). Still, an inviting presentation that will get kids turning pages. Grades 5-8. --Carolyn Phelan