Written by David J. Smith, illustrated by Steve Adams
My rating: ★★★★
ISBN: 978-1894786348
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Date of publication: August 1, 2014
Age: Grades 3 - 6
Genre: Nonfiction
Theme: proportions, perspective, scale, facts & figures
Imagine if the biggest numbers or ideas were scaled down to an understandable comparison. For example: if the Sun were a size of a grapefruit, the Earth would be the size of a grain of salt. Or, if all of Earth's water were represented by 100 drinking glasses, only one glass would contain the fresh drinking water available to us humans. Whether it be about the universe, human history, or geological facts, huge ideas can be scaled down to create surprising perspectives.
Full of facts and figures, this book is an exercise for the brain; it definitely has some amazing details. It's a "fun fact" sort of book where no single topic is addressed really extensively, but kids can learn all sorts of numbers behind population, geography, and astronomy. There isn't a totally clear sense of organization; each page is simply a new set of facts.
But each comparison/fact definitely gets to you stop and think. My favorite one is: if the Milky Way were the size of a dinner plate, our Solar System would be smaller than a speck of dust, and the visible universe would be the size of Belgium. That was a "whoa" moment. So prepare to be amazed and check out this book. It's pretty awesome.
Find it at your library or on Amazon
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