Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Is There Life in Outer Space?

Is There Life in Outer Space?
Franklyn M. Branley ~ Don Madden ~ Thomas Y. Crowell, 1984


Of late, the boy's been speculating on the sky, so I'm actively pursuing titles of this nature. Enter the vivid (if slightly goofy) illustrations of Don Madden and this book exploring what sort of life we might find beyond the stars. Part of the "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book" series, it is a super fun and wildly imaginative look at all things alien. Using a mix of illustration and photography, there are tall tales retold, lunar walks and even Yoda makes an appearance. (So funny that the word Yoda comes up in spell check... what a culturally savvy techno world we live in.) All food to fuel the imagination on what sorts of creatures might exist just beyond our universe. Check it.

More than a hundred years ago a newspaper said plants and animals lived on the moon. An astronomer could see them through a big, new telescope. There were trees on the moon, the newspaper said. Big melons grew on them. Animals that looked like small buffaloes grazed beneath the trees. Animals that looked like bears walked on their hind legs. There were people, too. They had hair all over their bodies, and they had wings. The moon people were friendly, the story said. They sat near a pond feeding melons to one another.

Ah, yea, right. We should be so lucky. But name me one child who hasn't had E.T. fantasies of finding life in outer space. Shoot. I still dream about it. How cool would that be, no? Maybe someday one lucky child (or child-at-heart) will get to phone home and tell us all about the ten-legged creatures that speak every launguage and live entirely off air... until then, we will all remain little dreamers, forever trapped in our isolated world until someone comes from a land far, far away and blows our minds. Someday... sigh.

Also by:
The Daddy Book
One Kitten for Kim
Oxygen Keeps you Alive

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1 comment:

  1. I LOVE the illustrations... and I think this book had a different cover for awhile.

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