Your Place in the Universe

by Jason Chin

Overview

Explore the known Universe and consider its mind-boggling scale in this crisply illustrated, well-researched picture book from Caldecott Medalist Jason Chin.

Winner of the Cook Prize!


Most eight-year-olds are about five times as tall as this book . . . but only half as tall as an ostrich, which is half as tall as a giraffe . . . twenty times smaller than a California Redwood! How do they compare to the tallest buildings? To Mt. Everest? To stars, galaxy clusters, and . . . the universe?

Jason Chin, the award-winning author and illustrator of Grand Canyon has once again found a way to make a complex subject—size, scale and almost unimaginable distance—accessible and understandable to readers of all ages. Meticulously researched and featuring the highly detailed artwork for which he is renowned, this is How Much is a Million for the new millenium, sure to be an immediate hit with kids looking for an engaging way to delve into perspective, astronomy, and astrophysics. Curious readers will love the extensive supplementary material included in the back of the back of the book


An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book
A New England Book Award Finalist
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823446230
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	225,897
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Jason Chin is a celebrated author and illustrator of children's books. He received the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in Andrea Wang's Watercress, a Newbery Honor book and APALA award winner. He illustrated Nine Months, by Miranda Paul, and wrote and illustrated Grand Canyon, awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Honor, and the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award. His other nonfiction titles, including Redwoods, Island: A story of the Galápagos, Coral Reefs, and Gravity, have received numerous starred reviews and other accolades. Jason lives in Vermont with his wife, Deirdre Gill, and their children.

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/10/2020

This dizzyingly powerful exploration of comparative scale starts with an inclusive group of eight-year-old children who are “about five times as tall as this book, but only half as tall as... this ostrich,” which is itself “taller than two eight-year-olds standing on each other’s shoulders.” Page-turn cliffhangers build a pleasing buzz of suspense as Caldecott Honoree Chin (Grand Canyon) adroitly guides readers from ostriches to redwood trees, past skyscrapers and Mount Everest, through Earth’s layered atmosphere to the moon, and beyond the solar system to the edges of the observable universe. Brief asides offer crystalline explanations of supplemental information, including units of measurement from inches to light-years (“One foot is equal to 12 inches. Feet are useful for measuring things that are taller than humans, such as ostriches and giraffes”) and concepts such as orbits, the speed of light, and the limitations of human perception from one’s place in an enormous universe. Chin’s realistic watercolor and gouache illustrations render awestruck children and cosmic shimmer with inimitable skill, and a magnificent spread comparing Mount Everest’s mass to that of human-built structures is likely to draw gasps. Extensive back matter centers scale and astronomical concepts. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 07/01/2020

PreS-Gr 4—This picture book helps children and adults conceptualize size, space, and distance. The narrative begins with a group of curious eight-year-olds who are peering through a telescope. The text compares the kids to larger and more distant items, including a book, a giraffe, trees, and buildings. The illustrations include the objects' scale and height in feet and meters. Each picture shows the item compared to the previous example. For instance, when the text explains the size relationship between the world's tallest buildings and the world's highest mountains, Chin's extraordinary artwork shows how tiny the buildings are compared to the breathtaking mountains. The book keeps zooming out through the Milky Way and through galaxy clusters until readers are viewing the entire universe. Back matter features an author's note, information about the age of the universe and the illustrations, and print and online resources. People of all ages will want to pore over the captivating artwork and think about the relationship between size and space. VERDICT A fascinating book that is as informative as it is marvelously absorbing. A must-have for any collection.—Debbie Tanner, S D Spady Montessori Elem., FL

School Library Journal

★ 2020-04-12
From a Caldecott and Sibert honoree, an invitation to take a mind-expanding journey from the surface of our planet to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos.

Though Chin’s assumption that we are even capable of understanding the scope of the universe is quixotic at best, he does effectively lead viewers on a journey that captures a sense of its scale. Following the model of Kees Boeke’s classic Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps (1957), he starts with four 8-year-old sky watchers of average height (and different racial presentations). They peer into a telescope and then are comically startled by the sudden arrival of an ostrich that is twice as tall…and then a giraffe that is over twice as tall as that…and going onward and upward, with ellipses at each page turn connecting the stages, past our atmosphere and solar system to the cosmic web of galactic superclusters. As he goes, precisely drawn earthly figures and features in the expansive illustrations give way to ever smaller celestial bodies and finally to glimmering swirls of distant lights against gulfs of deep black before ultimately returning to his starting place. A closing recap adds smaller images and additional details. Accompanying the spare narrative, valuable side notes supply specific lengths or distances and define their units of measure, accurately explain astronomical phenomena, and close with the provocative observation that “the observable universe is centered on us, but we are not in the center of the entire universe.”

A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts. (afterword, websites, further reading) (Informational picture book. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews

★  "A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "People of all ages will want to pore over the captivating artwork and think about the relationship between size and space. . . .  A fascinating book that is as informative as it is marvelously absorbing."—School Library Journal, Starred Review
 
★ "Complex concepts (such as local galaxy groups and super clusters) are clearly defined throughout in simple captions elucidating Chin's watercolor and gouache art. . . . Extensive back matter delves deep into current understandings of the size, age, and complexity of the universe. Sources are listed along with child-friendly websites for further exploration of the big and small ideas presented in this out-of-this-world science picture book."—The Horn Book, Starred Review

★ "Page-turn cliffhangers build a pleasing buzz of suspense as Caldecott Honoree Chin (Grand Canyon) adroitly guides readers from ostriches to redwood trees, past skyscrapers and Mount Everest . . . Chin’s realistic watercolor and gouache illustrations render awestruck children and cosmic shimmer with inimitable skill, and a magnificent spread comparing Mount Everest's mass to that of human-built structures is likely to draw gasps."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"As always, Chin is a stickler for details (the book was vetted by two Harvard astrophysicists); all illustrations are shown to scale with the exception of one or two final entities that would otherwise spread beyond the page. A worthy addition to STEM literature; concluded with generous back matter."—Booklist

From the Publisher