It’s SPRING! 🌸 🌷🌼 🌺☀️ HURRAY!!! 🐥
It’s also Perfect Picture Book Friday 😊 (but I admit it – this week I think I’m more excited about spring 😊)
Surprisingly, I did not choose a book about baby animals for today, even though that would have made sense for the first PPBF of spring. Instead, I chose this fabulous, gorgeous picture book for 8-12 year olds about our place in the universe! Wait til you see how cool – and beautiful! – it is!
Title: Your Place In The Universe
Written & Illustrated By: Jason Chin
Publisher: Neal Porter Books, September 1, 2020, nonfiction
Suitable For Ages: 8-12
Themes/Topics: relative size, perspective, astronomy, your place in the universe
text and illustration copyright Jason Chin, 2020, Neal Porter Books
Opening: “These kids are eight years old.
They are about five times as tall as this book,
but only half as tall as . . .
. . . this ostrich.”
text and illustration copyright Jason Chin, 2020, Neal Porter Books
Brief Synopsis: [from the publisher] “Most eight-year-olds are about five times as tall as this book . . . but only half as tall as an ostrich, which is half as tall as a giraffe . . . twenty times smaller than a California Redwood! How do they compare to the tallest buildings? To Mt. Everest? To stars, galaxy clusters, and . . . the universe? What is your place in the universe?”
text and illustration copyright Jason Chin, 2020, Neal Porter Books
Links To Resources: the book has extensive supplemental back matter for curious kids; here is a fantastic video of Jason Chin describing how he draws a fact
text and illustration copyright Jason Chin, 2020, Neal Porter Books
text and illustration copyright Jason Chin, 2020, Neal Porter Books
Why I Like This Book: Haven’t we all wondered where we fit into the universe at one point or another? Jason Chin does an amazing job of showing young readers about perspective and relative size in terms they can understand. Starting with an average eight year old, he describes and illustrates how big they are in relation to ever-increasingly large things from an ostrich, to a giraffe, to a redwood tree, to a skyscraper, to Mount Everest and on into space, the galaxy, and the universe. There is so much interesting information in this book, and the art work is stunning (can you tell? seeing as how I barely managed to confine myself to 5 interior spreads? 😊) This book has something for every young reader, but especially for those interested in science, astronomy, and astrophysics.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific blog links (and any other info you feel like filling out 😊) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 😊
Happy Spring! 🌸 🌷🌼 🌺☀️
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Susanna! I adore Jason Chin’s book and this wone looks spectacular. I can’t wait for my hold to come in! So glad you featured it. Thank you.
I love his books, too, Maria! I am so looking forward to HURRICANE! And if you get the chance to watch the video of him drawing that is in the resources section, that is so cool!
I love the illustrations. A picture is worth a thousand words. How wonderful to see a picture book for 8-12 year olds. A perfect theme for this week’s NASA’s SpaceX return of crew 9.
Thank you!♥️
I’m glad you like it, Robin! I was in a space-oriented mood from doing MOON’S FIRST FRIENDS school visits this week! And how cool was the dolphin greeting committee for the returning astronauts? 🙂
Yes, the dolphins!!! I’ll need to check out MOON’S FIRST FRIENDS! ♥️
There’s so much to wonder at and savor in his books. I love them all, and this one looks fantabulous!
They really are amazing, Jilanne!
Great choice to kick off spring!
I’m glad you like it!
Definitely an out-of-this-world book. I love the comparisons and … well, just everything about this book.
Me too, Sue!
What an interesting book! Lovely illustrations, too.
Glad you like it, Kathy! I love his illustrations!
I will have to read this one, especially after this week’s phenomenal SpaceX landing and the Dolphin welcoming committee! Great Choice for PPBF❣️
It’s very cool, Susan! (Though maybe not quite as cool as a dolphin welcoming committee 🙂 )
🐬🐬🐬🐬
Absolutely fascinating way to talk about comparative heights and introduce the universe! Looks like the illustrator had fun – every page pops!
Isn’t it incredible, Robin? And I think it’s done in a way that will be very accessible to young readers!
Thanks for posting this Susanna. I can’t wait to get a copy of Jason Chin‘s new book. I loved hearing him on a Vermont edition story on VPR this week. His books are beautiful.
Glad you enjoyed this, Marcia! This book is a couple years old, but I’m really looking forward to HURRICANE – is that the one you’re referring to?
HOW FUN❤️
Such a creative way of explaining relative size, right, Emmie?!