A Star Explodes: The Story of Supernova 1054

Written by James Gladstone

Illustrated by Yaara Eshet

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-498-6

32 pp. 

Ages 8-12

March 2023 

It all started with a big bang. Not the big bang, but just the explosion of a star thousands of years ago and whose light finally appeared to those on Earth in 1054. For astronomers, the appearance of what the Chinese called a guest star was cause for awe. But in time, the light of the guest star faded and, though the ancients might not have known it, a nebula was formed in its stead.

From A Star Explodes by James Gladstone, illus. by Yaara Eshet

That nebula, a cloud of gas and dust, would at last be visible with an 19th century telescope and lead to its naming as the Crab Nebula, which still grows today.

From A Star Explodes by James Gladstone, illus. by Yaara Eshet

James Gladstone may refer to the supernova of 1054 as an example, but his intent is to educate about supernovas (= star blasts) and nebulas (= clouds of gas and dust) and the astronomical phenomena associated with both. Young readers will learn how supernovas scatter their remains across the universe and become part of new worlds. It's a big story for a big explosion, and that's why James Gladstone tells it both in narrative and information notes. He gives it the beauty of the prodigious, of the cosmic, of the mysterious, especially as it was witnessed in historical times. (Several timelines clarify the evolution of the supernova and the nebula.) But James Gladstone, whose earlier books include Turtle Pond (2018), Earthrise (2018) and When Planet Earth Was New (2017), always blends the elegance of the scientific world with the factual, providing story with appending notes about what a supernova is, the supernova of 1054, and the Crab Nebula.

From A Star Explodes by James Gladstone, illus. by Yaara Eshet

But, because this is more than a non-fiction text, Yaara Eshet's watercolour and ink illustrations lend that storytelling element. She takes us into the heavens, into history, and into glorious landscapes across our world. There's colour and life, but also the curiosity that comes with the real but still curious.

 

I love when non-fiction is presented as an illustrated story, and with A Star Explodes: The Story of Supernova 1054 by James Gladstone and Yaara Eshet, you'll be heading to the stars and the past for a brief lesson in science and history both.