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6th out of 97 books
—
21 voters
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
by
Peter Sís
"If they had seen what we see, they would have judged as we judge." -- Galileo Galilei
In every age there are courageous people who break with tradition to explore new ideas and challenge accepted truths. Galileo Galilei was just such a man--a genius--and the first to turn the telescope to the skies to map the heavens. In doing so, he offered objective evidence that the ear...more
In every age there are courageous people who break with tradition to explore new ideas and challenge accepted truths. Galileo Galilei was just such a man--a genius--and the first to turn the telescope to the skies to map the heavens. In doing so, he offered objective evidence that the ear...more
Paperback, 40 pages
Published
September 1st 2000
by Square Fish
(first published January 1st 1996)
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Aug 05, 2011
Dolly
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
parents reading with their children
This book offers a fascinating look at the life and work of Galileo Galilei. It provides historical background information about the various theories of the universe, leading up to his discovery that the Earth was not indeed the center of it. The illustrations are wonderful and the additional information and quotes that are artistically woven (sometimes in sprials) throughout the pages are good for deepening our understanding the man, his thoughts, and his tribulations with the church. They can...more
We love quite a few Peter Sis books (I dare you to find a better little boy's book than FIRE TRUCK!), but Starry Messenger was not one of them. I had to do quite a bit of live-editing while reading this one to Toby (my fault -- I should have previewed it first). Weird cursive writing is abundant and hard to read. But perhaps making the script sigmoid and sideways made "The streets were open sewers. Diesease was common, and thousands died from typhus and from the bubonic plague," seem jaunty some...more
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This book is done very much in the same style as Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus - a book I very much enjoyed (despite not being in love with the subject). I expected to love this one just as much, if not more, because I am far more excited about Galileo than Columbus. But, I don't know, this didn't really come together for me. The art is amazing - beautiful, magical, detailed, enthralling, wonderful! No complaints there. It is true, there are moments throughout the book that...more
1. Genre: Biography Junior Book
2. Summary: This book shows the life of Galileo, and his love and interest in the stars. This book shows his struggles with his theories and ideas.
3. Critique:
a) The book incorporates Galileo's words from his personal book called "Starry Messenger," in which he recorded his own observations. It also has interesting facts and perceptions of that time about him.
b) The biography doesn't contain many facts, but is written more in a story format. It is also writte...more
2. Summary: This book shows the life of Galileo, and his love and interest in the stars. This book shows his struggles with his theories and ideas.
3. Critique:
a) The book incorporates Galileo's words from his personal book called "Starry Messenger," in which he recorded his own observations. It also has interesting facts and perceptions of that time about him.
b) The biography doesn't contain many facts, but is written more in a story format. It is also writte...more
I love the illustrations of Peter Sis. They encourage exploration and there is no doubt this book earned the Caldecott Honor Award. I think the typed text is fairly understandable, taking into account that the topic is Galileo. While I like the idea of the handwritten text, I find this important portion of the book confusing and difficult to read. It isn't the swirly nature of this handwritten text--arranged in shapes, sometimes upside down or curling in on itself. That is enjoyable, an adventur...more
I really liked this story of Galileo. Sometimes a person doesn't get to see how much of an effect they have had on people. A person's greatness is sometimes revealed too late. In this story, Galileo, a philosopher, teacher, and master of the stars, lives a life of triumph until he goes against the ideas of religion. He is kept away from society until his death, because of his beliefs. Hundreds of years after his death, he is verbally aquitted by people who claimed that his ideas that the Sun was...more
Starry Messenger tells the important story about the life of Galileo and the incredible risks and consequences he faced as he stood behind the claims and discoveries he made that challenged prior beliefs from church officials and scientists. Readers can consider Galileo's story and relate it to modern times, connecting it to the challenges individuals continue to face as they strive to overcome or speak out against societal norms.
In Starry Messenger, the reader is transported to ancient Italy. F...more
In Starry Messenger, the reader is transported to ancient Italy. F...more
The book, Starry Messenger, by Perter Sis, is an interesting Caldecott Honor book. This book is about Galileo and how he thrived and grew up and studied mathematics, physics, and the stars. He then made himself a telescope and studied the stars every night. He wrote down all his observations which eventually turned into a book called The Starry Messeger. Many people then celebrated Galileo an his discoveries of the stars and soon he became very famous. The church then became very angry at Galile...more
"Starry Messenger," by Peter Sis, is an interesting little story that teaches about the life of Galileo Galilei. It is has a portrait shape, and each illustration is beautifully put together, including many details that are captivating and cause the reader to pause on each page to take in the detail. The text in the story is interesting because there is the basic story line in plain text on each page and there is also facts about ideas mentioned in the story in fancy writing on each page. The fa...more
This book offers very brief and general information about the life of Galileo Galilee and his accomplishments.
This book, at first, appears to be a fiction picture book. I say this for two reasons: a lack of index and the “story-like” feeling you get when reading it. The text was arranged interestingly on the page due to the fact that there were usually at least two different fonts on each page and sometime you would have to turn the entire book to read the passage that was on the page. The pictu...more
This book, at first, appears to be a fiction picture book. I say this for two reasons: a lack of index and the “story-like” feeling you get when reading it. The text was arranged interestingly on the page due to the fact that there were usually at least two different fonts on each page and sometime you would have to turn the entire book to read the passage that was on the page. The pictu...more
My boys said this was "just as good as the Copernicus book", but they didn't seem as interested so I'm giving it 3 stars. They also didn't like the page where Galileo is in prison and imagining all the tortures that might happen to him. Just a wee bit too graphic for them.
Overall it was a nice book. There is simple text along the bottom and then squiggly cursive at the top. The plain text told his basic story and the cursive included some of his notes and theories. I thought the basic a bit too...more
Overall it was a nice book. There is simple text along the bottom and then squiggly cursive at the top. The plain text told his basic story and the cursive included some of his notes and theories. I thought the basic a bit too...more
Unlike most children's book illustrators, Sis favors subtle pastels and complex, detailed drawings over bold colors and images. There's always a lot going on in every image, if kids slow down enough to look at them. The level of illustrative detail makes this book best for one-on-one reading. The book can be read on two levels; short, simple biographical statements target younger children while small, cursive passages highlight book excerpts and quotes from Galileo. This handwritten text adds a...more
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I enjoyed this book, but some of the text was distracting and written in unnecessarily complicated ways. A child might be willing to turn the book around in order to read a section in the shape of an eye, but they might also find it annoying and just ignore it. These pieces of text were not completely necessary to understanding the book, but they were interesting and it would be unfortunate if they were skipped. The pictures are fascinating. I love how you can pick out both baby and child Galile...more
This book tells of the life of Galileo Galilei from the time just before his birth until just after his death.The book tells of how Galileo Galilei was curious and determined. He created his own telescope to see the sky and the stars. The book not only tells the biography of Galileo Galilei in words a child can understand but in a way that is also interesting to read about. It shows how he held to his beliefs, persevered through persecution, and even though it was after his death, his legacy wil...more
There's a haunting quality about this book that really surprised me, in a positive way. Perhaps it was the tight cursive scrawl representing the words of Galileo, twisting up and over and around on many of the pages. It sort of felt as if the story was infused with special dignity because of that, as if the power of such an extraordinary life and the suffering heaped upon him for his steadfast scientific convictions were coming through with a degree of clarity that I've never before seen in a p...more
I wavered between 3 and 4 on this one. I love that it's about Galileo, but all the script in the art makes it a bit cluttered for my liking. It is a fine first book on Galileo. I think it should be in everyone's home library. Also, my understanding was that while the church pardoned him, they never actually admitted that he was right all along. Guess I need to pick up a biography of Galileo for adults and check it out (I'm going by my hazy memory of Carl Sagan's show Cosmos and goodness knows it...more
Starry Messenger—This is another beautiful fictional piece written and illustrated by Peter Sis.
This one is about Galileo Galilei, who changed the way people perceived the galaxy and their
place in the universe—but not without considerable controversy and grief! Sis does a wonderful
job detailing the life events and progressive ideas of this man living in the 15- and 1600’s.
Again, this is a very engaging, educational book, perhaps most appropriate (due to the incredibly
fine and numerous details) f...more
This one is about Galileo Galilei, who changed the way people perceived the galaxy and their
place in the universe—but not without considerable controversy and grief! Sis does a wonderful
job detailing the life events and progressive ideas of this man living in the 15- and 1600’s.
Again, this is a very engaging, educational book, perhaps most appropriate (due to the incredibly
fine and numerous details) f...more
Feb 24, 2012
Lisa Schwartz
added it
I found this book amusing and insightful. Starry Messenger tells the story of Galileo Galilei and some of his accomplishments. The actual story is interesting, but the illustrations are amazing. His pictures are detailed and intricate, including every possible detail possible. The story really draws you into the world of this man and the children will be captivated by the illustrations in the book. Although I found this book to be great, I wouldn't say that it was one of my favorites, for I gues...more
Peter Sis documents the life of Galileo Galilei in this Caldecott Honor biography. He tells the complicated story of the astronomer and does a fantastic job of laying out the cultural/social/political/historical context that impacted Galileo's work. The illustrations are so detailed and are accompanied by additional information written in beautiful script that are truly pieces of art themselves. My favorite illustration is when Galileo is called to the Papal court to be tried for heresy. The cre...more
"A book depicting the life of a famous scientist, mathematician, astronomer, philospher, physicist: Galileo Galilei."
One of the things I really like about this fascinating book is that it has a little something for a wide spectrum of young (and old) readers. There is the main story line that is very readable and interesting for both younger and older children, and there are extra facts, fascinating trivia, and quotes from Galileo himself in cursive script, that will appeal to older readers of th...more
I chose Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sís for my astronomy materials for children ages 5 to 8 project. One of our requirements was to include a biography relevant to the topic. Starry Messenger was the most interesting of the books on hand that fit the project.
The title comes from the notebook Galileo Galilei kept for most of his life. He worked with then cutting edge technology, the telescope, to make observations supporting Copernicus's theory that the earth and planets revolve ar...more
The title comes from the notebook Galileo Galilei kept for most of his life. He worked with then cutting edge technology, the telescope, to make observations supporting Copernicus's theory that the earth and planets revolve ar...more
The illustrations are beautiful, and the inclusion of text from Galileo's journals, observations, etc, were interesting. However, most of the content is what I remember learning about Galileo in school, in no more detail. I was also frustrated by reading the parts of the text that were in the script font--the letters are tiny and close together, and the words form shapes on the page, causing me to turn the book in all different directions. Kind of cool, but it made reading it tedious for me.
The artwork of this book is lovely. And I like how the text is organized. It has the basic short paragraph to read, but if you want to read more in depth, there are "handwritten" text on the page that are some of Galileo's own writings. My 4 year old's attention span wasn't that long, but it was nice to see we could have read more about him if we wanted to. And even though we didn't read the extra text, it in no way took away from the book. I think it was very well thought out.
Apr 03, 2013
Carolyn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
biography,
informational,
graphic-novel,
nature,
picture-book,
science,
teaching,
historical
I totally love this book.
I read his graphic autobiography in ed grad school but hadn't read any of his other stuff. Just ordered this with a specific student in mind, she is going to FLIP OUT when she sees it.
Beautiful art, lovely storytelling. Main text is big font and simple enough -- additional notes and observations in a decorative cursive on the sides (like built-in extensions for higher readers). So much to see.
I read his graphic autobiography in ed grad school but hadn't read any of his other stuff. Just ordered this with a specific student in mind, she is going to FLIP OUT when she sees it.
Beautiful art, lovely storytelling. Main text is big font and simple enough -- additional notes and observations in a decorative cursive on the sides (like built-in extensions for higher readers). So much to see.
I checked this out from the library for my star obsessed 1st grader. I like that you can read the in depth calligraphy, but you don't really have to. We read the large print and talked about what he already knows about Galileo. The calligraphy would make the book interesting to an older child.
It is fairly provocative for a young audience. I was surprised but pleased about how the author handled churches and society opposing Galileo.
It is fairly provocative for a young audience. I was surprised but pleased about how the author handled churches and society opposing Galileo.
The delivery is a little advanced for the stated target age range. While the basic block text is great for kids, the additional cursive, flowy text is difficult to read but provides excellent depth to the biography. Also a few of the illustrations are too intense for young readers... images of a man on a rack and faces in flames while Galileo is in the torture chamber? Yikes!
Apr 07, 2013
Allison Burke
added it
This is a great book about Galileo and what his beliefs were about the stars. This book would be great for teaching students about the stars and about theories people had a long time ago about the night sky. This could be used for grades second through fifth. The pictures in the book are really interesting. It shows many notes that Galileo wrote as well.
In this picture book biography, we learn about the life of Galileo. Sis places his discoveries in time by explaining previous beliefs about the solar system and shows the effect of Galileo's evidence of the sun as its center on the cultural/religious beliefs of the time. This is such a lovely book, but I wish the information written in the sidebars was more legible.
Beautiful illustrations. Great biography for kids.
"I do not feel obligated to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use... He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary demonstrations."
"I do not feel obligated to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use... He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary demonstrations."
Sis's account of Galileo with all his visual polish, inventive and eccentric touches, and curious borders and stamps. His use of timelines, maps, a schematic of the solar system, and more demonstrate the astronomer's development, the extent of his contributions, his opposition to and punishment by the Catholic Church, and his impact on the modern world.
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