Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Stephanie Roth Sisson (review)

This picture-book biography paints the life of astronomer Carl Sagan in broad strokes, focusing on his childhood interest in outer space, in which science and science fiction played formative roles, and his adult career not only as a researcher, but also as a communicator of scientific knowledge to the general public. The child/adult coverage is unfortunately off balance here, with so much space accorded to Sagan’s budding curiosity that not enough is left for the specifics of his work that could prove fascinating to children, particularly his work on the Voyager missions, his Cosmos television series, and his investigations into the temperature of Venus and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. With its informal scratchy-lined figures, Sisson’s mixed-media artwork has a cozy vibe that works well for a subject who integrated science and imagination throughout his work. End matter (in painfully small font) includes notes for each spread, source notes for all quotations, an adult-oriented bibliography, and an author’s note on Sagan’s influence on her own interest of science.