The last book I‘ll share from this week’s Instagram #8brilliantbooks collection for #internationaldarkskyweek is this fantastic book by Charlotte Guillain and Yuval Zommer. It’s a highly-visual and interactive read, which looks at what’s above us layer by layer – from the troposphere, through the ozone layer, crossing the Karman Line and out past our solar system. What I love most about this fabulously-illustrated book is its concertina-style pages, which can be pulled out into one single strip so that readers can pore over the text and pictures, following the layers up one side and then down the other (see the book below fully extended, kindly modelled by my daughter). The information is presented in small chunks, so great for younger children, and the vibrant illustrations are deceptively detailed, so you can spot something new every time. I bought this after we had been kindly gifted the other book in the series – The Street Beneath My Feet (which takes readers down to the earth’s core) – and the kids loved the concertina format so much, that they begged me for this. Even though it’s now been stretched out a million times, it still looks as good as new due to it being printed on high-quality, robust card.
