Super Stars: The Biggest, Hottest, Brightest, and Most Explosive Stars in the Milky Way (National Geographic Kids)
Grade 5–7—Pairing dramatic space art with souped-up prose, Aguilar introduces more than a dozen types of stars and stellar phenomena, from Algol, the "winking demon star," and supernovae ("Boom! There goes the neighborhood") to black holes, brown dwarfs, and planetary nebulae, the "butterflies of the universe." Aside from the occasional alien or interstellar spacecraft set against glowing star fields, the information in both pictures and text sticks to the facts, accurately reflecting current knowledge without ever coming close to turning into a dry recitation of data. Four sky charts and a spread of assorted informative back matter give this unusually exuberant ticket to ride for young sky watchers and armchair space travelers a strong finish.—John Peters, New York Public Library(c) Copyright 2010.  Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.  No redistribution permitted.