Yang, Gene Luen. Prime Baby. Illustrated by Derek Kirk Kim. Roaring Brook Press, 2010. 64 pages ( 9781596436121)

Age 9 and older

Eight-year-old Thaddeus is jealous of his new baby sister, Maddie, and wants nothing to do with her until he realizes she’s a gateway for an alien invasion. His first clue: her single syllable babble (“ga”) is always vocalized in strings of prime numbers. When the aliens finally emerge—from small pods Maddie throws up–they turn out to be “missionaries of smiles and happy feelings.” This is a disappointment to Thaddeus, while the government locks Maddie away regardless. Thaddeus is more than willing to exploit his parent’s resulting distress for personal gain. But then he recognizes the look on his sister’s face in her isolation room as one all too familiar to him: loneliness. First published in the New York Times Magazine, Gene Luen Yang’s smart, funny graphic novel is hilarious from its first page (“my mother’s womb is a Trojan horse”) to its last. Smiles and happy feelings indeed.  ©2010 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Love, Ann and Jane Drake. The Kids’ Book of the Night Sky. Illustrated by Heather Collins. Kids Can Press, 2004. 144 pages (0-55337-357-X)

Ages 7 – 12

This compendium of facts, folklore, and hands-on activities will delight young stargazers and provide them with a wealth of information about astronomy. Chapters on the moon, the stars, the planets, and the sky in each season all suggest something to make, from a planisphere to a star clock, and/or do, from a celestial scavenger hunt to a game of Night Sky “I Spy.” (Younger children will need help with some of the activities, but there is enough variety to offer something for children of many ages.) The authors’ fresh, lively narrative offers up plenty of science along with brief, breezy versions of traditional lore from peoples around the world. The clear, concise information is never confused by its juxtaposition with folklore or by the humorous contexts in which it is sometimes presented (such as the interview with an aging star). The two-color artwork in blue and black is often unremarkable, but works well when it matters here – diagramming a project, or showing specific information about aspects of the night sky. © Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Losure, Mary. Isaac the Alchemist: Secrets of Isaac Newton, Reveal’d. Candlewick Press, 2017. 163 pages (978–0–7636–7063–4)

How do you recount the life of a 17th-century scientist in a way that is captivating for youth? One way is to make it magical. Isaac Newton grew up at a time when there was little or no distinction between magic and science. His mathematical discoveries are what helped firmly distinguish between the two; even so, he never gave up his belief in alchemy. Here, Newton is profiled from childhood on as a singular intelligence. He didn’t often relate well to people, but he was brilliant and passionate in pursuit of his interests, from alchemy to math to mechanics. Although details about his childhood in particular are not abundantly known, Losure creates a vivid sense of the time and place in which he grew up, including ample information about alchemy, which so fascinated Newton. Near volume’s end, after recounting how Newton’s discoveries transformed understanding in physics and astronomy in particular, Losure writes, “This magician, this last sorcerer—the greatest of all alchemists—was the same man who banished magic from the scientific world.” End matter in this highly readable volume includes glimpses of Isaac’s notebooks, and excerpts from some of the alchemy books of his time, as well as source notes and bibliography.  ©2018 Cooperative Children’s Book Center