Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami (review)

Phoebe, named after one of Saturn’s moons, shares her father’s love for all things astronomical, and tonight will be a banner night for sky gazers: Saturn and Mars will both be visible at once. Dad sets up some gear outside his telescope shop to encourage public viewing, but the sad reality is that the streetlights are bound to make viewing difficult. An advancing storm knocks out the power and sends everyone scurrying indoors, but as soon as the rain passes through, Phoebe and Dad emerge into an evening presented just for enthusiasts like them: “Above the newly washed city, with the power still out, glowing, sparkling, gleaming lights painted the night—some faint, some brilliant, some clustered together and some scattering fiercely through the inky darkness.” As Dad guides Phoebe on a tour of the celestial highlights, urbanites venture back out to enjoy the view as well—at least until the lights come back on. The picture-book story stands sturdily on its own as a gentle tale of a shared father/daughter enterprise, and Sicuro’s mixed-media illustrations, with their gauzy chalk and translucent watercolor touches, convey both the objective and emotive pleasures of stargazing. For children (or classroom teachers) who want to know more, Krishnaswami appends five pages of notes on the solar system, planetary conjunctions, planet moons and rings, telescopes, and light pollution, as well as a glossary and several strong picture-book suggestions that lead children to explore the night sky from vantage points of science, art, history, and folklore. Read in tandem with John Rocco’s Blackout (BCCB 6/11), this could spark lively discussion on the upside and downside of life on the grid.