The Sky Is Not the Limit

by Jérémie Decalf

Overview

The Children’s Book Committee of Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year List - STEM & Outstanding Merit (2024)

The New York Public Library Best Books for Kids List (2023)

A poetic odyssey through space with the groundbreaking Voyager 2 probe—past Earth, into deep space and beyond.

In 1977, a space probe was built to help human beings learn a little more about outer space. Soon, along with its twin, Voyager 2 slipped through the clouds and left Earth behind. The spacecraft traveled for years through the deep, infinite night. At last Voyager 2 reached its first goal: Jupiter. Then it met the spellbinding sight of Saturn. Then, going further than any previous mission, the probe visited the blue ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Past the boundaries of our solar system, Voyager 2 sails on, carrying a Golden Record for any new friends it makes in interstellar space…

This lyrical, atmospheric book introduces young readers to a pioneering NASA spacecraft that has spent over forty-five years observing and exploring our galaxy. With stirring poetry, luminous art, and fascinating back matter, The Sky Is Not the Limit will inspire future scientific innovators and foster a sense of wonder at our universe.

The Children’s Book Council Children's FAVORITES List 3rd-5th Grade (2024)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802856029
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Series:	Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers (SSCR)
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	1,092,721
Product dimensions:	8.33(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Jérémie Decalf is a French illustrator and photographer based in San Francisco.  Since his childhood, Jérémie has been fascinated by space exploration, including the Voyager probes and their discoveries. The Sky Is Not the Limit has been translated into Korean, Spanish, and Italian, and is Jérémie’s English-language debut. Follow Jérémie on Instagram @lomki and visit his website at lomki.com.
 

Editorial Reviews

06/19/2023

A Voyager spacecraft narrates its journey through the universe in this spare volume. Opening lines establish an exploratory tone (“What is up there?”), after which Voyager describes launching past clouds and daylight up into the “night.// Deep./ Infinite.” As the satellite-like probe travels in space, flat black pages sprinkled with pinprick stars movingly gesture toward the lonely expedition. Punctuating the intergalactic spreads are dramatic planetary flybys, until concluding twilight scenes back on Earth entreat the reader to “think of me, out there.” Staccato text includes mention of how the vessel carries a golden record with a message from Earth: “For an encounter, perhaps,/ at the edge of night.” It’s a resonant portrait of space’s ineffable immensity. Ages 5–9. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 03/01/2023

K-Gr 2—This inspiring work of creative nonfiction follows the trajectory of the Voyager 2 probe, launched into deep space by NASA in 1977. The turn of each page propels readers farther along on the majestic journey, from construction at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to launch at Cape Canaveral and onward through the solar system. The spare, poetic text tells the story from the perspective of the spacecraft itself, using a serene first-person narration to convey the profundity of the endeavor. The richly hued digital illustrations are breathtaking. Decalf renders the human figures as stylized silhouettes, deliberately shifting emphasis to the images of nature and technology. The lovingly faithful depiction of Voyager 2 is paired with gorgeous, detailed vistas of Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and finally a shining, spiral-armed galaxy far beyond our own. At every turn, the book deftly balances the wonders of scientific advancement with the thrill of the human spirit. VERDICT A visually stunning achievement and an important addition to nonfiction collections, this is an opportunity for young readers to experience a vital chapter in the history of humanity.—Jonah Dragan

School Library Journal

2022-11-16
A poetic envoy from the Voyager 2 probe as it leaves our solar system for the vast deeps of interstellar space.

“Behind me, Earth. // Ahead of me lies the night.” In lines so terse that twin probe Voyager 1 goes unmentioned until his (somewhat) more expansive afterword, Decalf recalls his personified spacecraft’s assembly, launch, and flybys of all four outer planets on the way to the stars—bearing a golden disk of “images from Earth, and some melodies” in hopes of “an encounter, perhaps, / at the edge of night. // With some new friends?” Early scenes of silhouetted human watchers and workers quickly give way to starry backdrops in which, except for planets flashing by, the small knot of instruments and antennas floats, recedes, and at last appears as a shadow against a swirling nebula. Though sandwiched between schematic views of the solar system and of Voyager’s course, this work—translated from French by the author—has little to offer readers curious about the actual mission or its achievements, not to mention the contents of that recorded message, until the quick summary at the end. But some sense of outer space’s immensity and loneliness does come through. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Slight but evocative. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews