On December 14, 1972, Commander Eugene Cernan, one of the three crew members of Apollo 17, was the last human being to be on the Moon. This year marks the 50th anniversary. Perhaps this is where the fact comes from that this year many authors have looked up to the sky in search of inspiration and there are not a few titles that have come down to us with an astronomical theme in the background, if not the direct protagonist.
We start this large selection with a youngster that comes to us from the Galician writer Agustín Fernández Paz, Gagarin's Journey (Faktoría K) for readers aged 15 and up, a novel that begins with the feat of astronaut Yuri Gagarin, who in April 2011 entered the annals of history as the first human being to go into outer space and orbit the Earth.
The adventure is the excellent framework that gives rise to the protagonist, now in middle age, to recall a childhood marked by the Cold War and Franco's repression. But it is the space race that gives sauce to a story tinged with admiration for an era in which man dreamed of stepping on the Moon. So much so, that our protagonist will be nicknamed Gagarin in honor of an award-winning work that will mark his life in a certain way.
With Gagarin's Journey, Fernández Paz opens a window to the past to draw, as if it were a vintage ad, the lives of the parents who are holding this book in his hands today.
Another of those who looks at the sky is the Catalan Quim Torres in Constelaciones (from 9 years old. Babulinka Books), a story told and starring Noche, a teenager who lives with her mother and a young astronomy student who has settled in the attic of his house. Every night a story will give life to the so-called orphan constellations, stories that mark Noche's life while she forges a strong friendship with Nil, another teenager with whom Noche will live a tremendous adventure, including a dogfight.
We love the phrase with which the author defines astronomy: "It is the word that is used to define everything that is beyond our navel". And this is how Night will look at the sky and will also find answers to many questions that he had not dared to ask until now. A text with the exact amount of varied ingredients to make it a very interesting read. Also in Catalan.
What is the sound of the universe, of the stars, of the planets, of the Sun? Aunt Gunvor has spent most of her life trying to figure it out by conducting exhaustive, daily research into the universe. She knows better than anyone the contributions made to science by people as fascinated by the sky as she is, such as Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Newton or Ole Romer.
What Aunt Gunvor knows little or nothing about is children, so when William has to stay with her for a whole week during the summer holidays, things get a little difficult, especially for William. Meals turn into a strange menu of herring, sour cheese, gherkins, stale bread, and coffee; I put her to bed on a bunk on the floor and his aunt mysteriously disappears at the first light of the night.
Although everything seems very sad and the week very long, everything takes an unexpected turn when William manages to make his aunt talk. Because everything that comes out of his mouth is fascinating. As fascinating as the universe that covers his heads.
Astronomy Stories. All that heaven can tell us is an original and very interesting journey through the great names in science whose curiosity and desire to understand how the world works has led us to where we are today. A fascinating story of stories, inventors, planets, telescopes and stars, between two people who are very different from each other but who end up finding a point in common that will unite them forever.
Surely looking at the stars you have ever wondered if we are alone. We've all done it on occasion, and we can't wait for a definitive answer from science because, let's face it, they don't know either. But in reality the important thing is not so much if there is intelligent life on other planets, as the forms that it could take. Would they look like us? No? And why should they? And that leads us to a new question: what are we humans like? That is, what makes us human? Come on, in the end the ET thing is the least of it... In Is there anyone there? Interplanetary questionnaire for intelligent earthlings, its authors make us look inward while we also look outward. No, they won't tell us if there are Martians. Or maybe yes?
This title, Cecilia Payne, the astronomer who deciphered the stars, is part of the collection that the Vegueta publishing house is editing to introduce the youngest to those great characters whose study, discipline and knowledge have contributed to the development of our society. Characters such as Agnodice, the first female doctor; Hedy Lamarr, an attractive adventurer, inventor, and actress; also Rosalind Franklin or Jane Godall, or male characters like Steve Jobs, Gutenberg or Archimedes.
In this new title, the editorial offers us in a pleasant way and with some accessories to understand the text, the most defining features of the life of Cecilia Payne, the astrophysicist who discovered the composition of the stars, and whose work was undeniably important. for our understanding of the stars and astronomy. Because of her condition as a woman, it was not easy for her, so it is always good to remember and applaud each and every one of those who did her bit.
The Salamandra publishing house is carrying out a reissue of the books that the popular Finnish author Tove Jansson dedicated to the world of the Moomin, adorable white trolls that are very popular not only in their country of origin, where they even have a dedicated theme park. Jansson dedicated nine novels, five illustrated albums and hundreds of comic strips to the Moomin between 1945 and 1993, which are now being republished.
The book that concerns us today is the second of the reissue of Salamandra, The arrival of the comet, in which little Moomin and his friend Sniff embark on a great adventure to discover the consequences that the impact of a comet that can have approaching Earth at full speed. The world of the Moomin is also that of the climate and the Nordic traditions, although in the case at hand, somewhat altered by the catastrophe that looms in the valley of the Moomin. Also in Catalan.
A different approach to the universe through comics, which, as happens in many of the books discussed here, combines pure knowledge with the story itself that the characters live. In this case it's about Rat, Orni and Castor, best friends but who couldn't be more different from each other, who embark on a super space weekend. The three of them are going to spend a few days at the Rat astronomical observatory, which in addition to a reflecting super telescope, also has a retractable roof and rooms for guests. A real luxury, really, where you not only learn the most essential things in the universe (and not so essential, really), but also some gems like barbecue spectrometry. Also in Catalan.
"At night there is darkness, but there is also a magical light that lives in the mysterious forest, in the deep sea and in the sleeping cities, and in all those places we will discover everything that shines." This is how the author Lena Sjöberg introduces Everything that shines, an interesting journey into the most luminous darkness, an informative book that starts in the universe, passing through the milky way and the northern lights, goes through the luminous caves of New Zealand and Australia and ends in the most remote part of the sea, where ostracods abound, hot beaches and legends of sailors. The nightlife is full of light and when the sun goes down it is time to open your eyes to this spectacle that nature offers us. Also in Catalan.
The Moon, the stars, the constellations and the entire universe that extends above our heads has been a recurring source of inspiration for poets of all time. Pedro Mañas, author of best sellers such as Anna Kadabra and Princesas Dragón, also wraps himself in the night, but above all looking towards the Moon, to offer us these exquisite poems gathered under La noche en el bolsillo, which talk about topics so varied that only the night understands, like monsters, lullabies, children who don't sleep, ghosts or werewolves. A whole repertoire of good rhymes.
Focusing on one aspect and developing it is a common practice in lore books. Here instead of the spotlight we put the magnifying glass, a magical magnifying glass with which the SM and Cruïlla publishers discover aspects of space, as they did before with the jungle, the human body or the world of dinosaurs. The magic magnifying glass, space is a book in hard covers and cardboard sheets to be able to manipulate at will without fear of it breaking, where we find several magnifying glasses with which to investigate a spaceship, the arrival of man on the Moon, the universe of the constellations or some space devices. There are also curiosities such as the remains that the astronauts left on the Moon during their missions, such as two golf balls or a mirror.
An ingenious hardcover accordion book with cardboard pages that displays all the planets of the solar system and the main constellations on the one hand, and on the other hand gives some basic information about each one of them, with curiosities such as that Neptune blows the stronger winds (2,100 km/h) or that Jupiter has more than 60 moons. The solar system is a very concentrated and attractive book to introduce children to the concepts of our immediate universe. Also in Catalan.
If we pay attention to the Barcelona author Tanuca (Natalia) Palomar, finding the constellations in the sky is a piece of cake. And the truth is that the illustrator Samuel Castaño makes it very easy for us in this fantastic Myths in the Sky where we basically discover the myths and legends that the ancient Greeks forged around the stars, or their particular way of interpreting the reality they saw. From the jet of milk from the goddess Hera that gave rise to the Milky Way to the beautiful story of the brothers Castor and Pollux that Zeus immortalized creating the constellation of Gemini (twins).
Short stories, easy to understand, that condense the essence of the great Greek stories –tragedies- through which Cassiopeia, Crotos, Pegasus, Artemis, Orion or the Pleiades circulate. The illustrations are one of the strong points of the book, which concludes with the reproduction of all the constellations in the sky and the time in which they can be seen depending on the hemisphere in which we find ourselves, as well as an index of characters that will accompany us throughout. lifelong. So the sooner you hear from them, the better.
A new installment of the El diari secret i perdut de... series in which the English writer Tim Collins explores various settings, such as the world of pirates, prehistory or medieval times and the world of knights. In El diari secret i perdut de la pitjor astronáuta del món the proposal is a trip to Mars at the hands of Ellie, the daughter of one of the workers at the Florida Space Center, who in an entertaining and fun way slips unintentionally into the mission that is about to embark on a journey to Mars.
It sneaks in is a saying, because Ellie, a curious girl where there are, approaches to observe the spaceship just at the moment in which some journalists prepare the news of the mission by recording the hangar where the rocket is located. And Ellie, so they don't punish her, can't think of anything else but to say that she's an astronaut.
Thus begins the fun diary of the youngest astronaut on the planet, embarked by chance on a mission that will end on Mars, where she will be the only crew member to set foot on the red planet. And her first words? What was a preteen going to say in such a situation? Well, something as logical as: What a pass! Great words for such a great moment. A fun read to pass the time and learn some relevant things about how to prepare for a space mission. In Catalan.
Do you know that in the future there might be star cultivators? And tattoo artists of roads, or interpreters of trees. Some people will dedicate themselves to being guides of flying ecosystems and leading the way for endangered animals through the universe to other planets like Noah's ark, but in spaceship mode. There will also be landscape collectors or wacky pet trainers. What, you don't think so? Why? In the future nothing is written and we can imagine it however we want. Perhaps you, who are reading these words, end up being a calmer of the sea. These are all the possibilities that open up to us with the Star Cultivators and other professions of the future (also in Catalan).
Have you ever wondered if there was someone out there? The author and illustrator Tom Sullivan asks the big question in Out There, the one that not a few people of any age ask themselves at some point in their lives with their eyes set on the sky. Here, the flying saucer that illustrates the cover directs our thoughts from the inside out. But what if the question is asked from the outside in? It is not a game, you only need to read this book to know what we are talking about.
A splendid proposal is the one brought to us by the Majorcan Aina Bestard in this What is hidden in the starry sky?, a book-game to delve the little ones into the mysteries of the universe and arouse their interest in what surrounds us. After opening the book, we must also open the windows and behind them the starry sky opens up. On each page, a different constellation. All drawn in white and blue. If we don't know them at first, we have several fun ways to find out their name. One, through a riddle. The other, playing with the light behind the window so that it shows us the animal or the figure that is hidden behind the constellation. An adventure worth watching. Also in Catalan.
The moon on a leash is part of the collection of short stories and long poems that the publisher is compiling by Gianni Rodari, with a title like Arturo or El caballito. On this occasion the poem focuses on the Moon and how it obediently follows us through the sky. A book in cardboard with some great illustrations for the age, as if they were small paintings. Yes, all very blue.
