About the Book and Author
Ada and the Galaxies is a glossy-paged picture book with detailed illustrations that accompany a story about a child called Ada who visits her grandparents, who live on an island. Her most favourite activity is star-gazing which is not possible in the city where she lives with her parents because of the light pollution. Now she is away from the bright lights of the big city she can’t wait to see the stars and spot the constellations. But a thick fog threatens to leave Ada very disappointed. Our young reviewer loved during over the illustrations and the story proved to prompt conversations about life beyond our planet. We love it!
In the UK this book is published by Walker Books.
Alan Lightman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and educated at Princeton and at the California Institute of Technology, where he recived a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. An active research scientist in astronomy and physics for two decades, he has also taught both subjects for the faculties of Harvard and MIT. His novels include Einstein’s Dreams, which was an international bestseller and The Diagnosis, which was a finalist for the National Book Award
Olga Pastuchiv is the co-author of this book with Alan Lightman. Olga is children’s book author, painter, and commercial illustrator. She paints things large and small, for murals and parade floats to illustrations for picture books. She is the creator of Minas and the Fish and the illustrator of Fables in a Modern Key by Pierre Coran and Riparia’s River by Michael J. Caduto. She lives in Maine.
Susanna Chapman has illustrated this book.
Book Review
An insanely gorgeous and thought-provoking book
This is another insanely gorgeous and thought-provoking book. Ila (and I) just LOVED it!
Ila was immediately drawn in by the illustrations in this book. “Mum can I choose my favourite shell?” She poured over the endpaper, spending ages choosing and rating each beautiful image.
There was so much to chat about whilst reading; the turning of the tides, night and day, the weather and of course space!
Ila said “I loved it because it’s a story about a little girl but it tells you about space too. Is Space real Mummy? Are there people in space?
Although I may not be able to answer these big questions it’s fun to discuss them and hopefully, maybe we can enjoy researching together. Also, as the evenings become clearer and and warmer it would be lovely to read this outside under the stars, a great book to take on a family summer holiday.
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Reviewer Profile
- Name: Ila
- Age: 5 years
- Likes: Strawberries and ice-cream
- Dislikes: Chilli and onions
- Favourite book: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
- Favourite Song: The Fairy Song
- Favourite Film: Sing!
