The summer reading program at the local library has encouraged us to read even more books than normal. One of the ones we brought home was On Earth which won a Notable Children's Book award in 2006.

It is a children's book, with illustrations but it talks about the science of the axis of the earth and the revolution of the earth around the sun. It talks about the difference between night and day being the difference between whether we are facing towards or away from the sun.

The book isn't afraid to use the true words, like orbit, to describe the movements of the earth. It talks about seasons and the difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres and it talks about how we don't fall off as we spin, because of gravity.

I like how the book is fun showing cartoons, lots of kids, but educational at the same time. The back of the book has a glossary (of sorts) with more illustrations to show things like rotates, revolves, and equator.

The book is by G. Brian Karas and I like his artwork. The are bright and cheerful and really do do a good job of depicting the semi-complex concepts being described. The children do things in the scenes that young readers can relate to, like going to sleep when it's dark, fishing in the sun, and having a birthday every year.

There isn't much text in each page, just a sentence or two. I'd recommend this book to children ages 4-7. The lack of text might not keep the attention of older children and the concepts being introduced will fall on confused ears with younger children (and even children in the age range). My 5 year old asked for some clarifications throughout the book, which at least means he was listening enough to know what he didn't understand and ask about it.

I really liked the mix of educational with lovely illustrations and fun activities that the kids are doing. This is a large book so the pages provide lots of space for things to look at and Karas does a good job of filling it with things worth looking at.  I definitely recommend this book to any young child.

Recommended: Yes