Stella Brite and the Dark Matter Mystery

by Sara Latta, Meredith Johnson

Detective Stella Brite is about to tackle the case of a lifetime. Can she and her ace assistant Max solve the mystery of dark matter? Humorous illustrations and a clever story shed light on one of today's greatest scientific mysteries.

Genres: Science

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Sara Latta is the author of seventeen books for children and young adults on topics that include dark matter, the secret life of microbes, DNA, bones, and forensic science. She also has a masters degree in immunology. She does have a bit of a phobia about heights, as she discovered when faced with having to climb down from a pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot is a bit thin, and I have trouble believing that kids dumb enough to think that the "mystery" of dark matter is akin to the mystery of a missing dog would be smart enough to easily grasp physics and astronomy concepts, but this was not bad for the educational-material-disguised-as-fiction genre. The illustrations reminded me a lot of the same sort of book from my childhood, although some of this information hadn't been discovered yet back then.



I did like that we have a brother and sister who mostly like each other and female head scientist (who turns out to not be a lot nicer than the children surmise; a not too heavy-handed point is made about first impressions).

The end notes include links for further learning and the names of some interesting figures in the field, such as Fred Zwicky (the unfortunate 1933 discoverer of of dark matter) and Vera Rubin. This would be a good book for homeschooling or for kids who are interesting in science at a level more advanced than their class material.

[Laura Lucero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stella Bite: and the Dark Matter Mystery, by Sara Latta and illustrated by Meredith Johnson, is the story of Stella and her brother Max who join the astronomy club which is studying the problem of invisible dark matter in the universe, and are soon on it's trail. This is a wonderful book which should be included in the mystery/detective picture book genre in all school libraries.
The is a really great read aloud book because it includes definitions of words all related to astronomy and would be a great addition to an astronomy lesson.

[Dixie Keyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun book for thinking more deeply about the universe and matter---and well, what's really out there. Even though I saw Interstellar, the movie, I never really understood the concepts of black holes and dark matter and light refraction, etc. This book helped my misunderstandings or non-understandings. Perfect for intermediate grades and IDEAL for a science class read-aloud, this was what I needed to better inform my elementary understanding of astronomy!

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute way to introduce elementary age children to the astronomical hypothesis of dark matter in the universe.

[Frieda Vizel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book to read to kids on the subject of dark matter (for the kids and adults) especially now when the Noble Prize was awarded to the scientists that discovered the Higgs Bosun.