Explore Comets and Asteroids!: With 25 Great Projects

Explore your World #4

by Anita Yasuda, Bryan Stone (Illustrator)

Have you ever wished on a shooting star? Shooting stars often appear when the earth passes through the dust and debris left by a passing comet. Explore Comets and Asteroids! With 25 Amazing Projects takes readers ages 7 to 10 on a fantastic journey through space, where they investigate comets, asteroids, and lesser-known space wonders through 25 experiments and activities designed for curious kids.

Readers learn about everything from the first asteroid discovered to many current spacecraft missions. They also investigate famous comets, such Halley’s comet, which returns faithfully every 75 or 76 years.

Learning about comets and asteroids means asking lots of questions. Could we live and work on asteroids? Why do we only occasionally see comets? Kids find the answers and more through hands-on projects and experiments that encourage them to be curious about how and why things work. Activities range from mapping the positions of celestial objects to designing spacecraft for asteroid missions. By combining science with activities, fun facts, and cartoons, kids will investigate, create, design, test, and redesign. Explore Comets and Asteroids! inspires kids to want to know more about how these rocky worlds formed and how they may have shaped life on Earth.

96 pages, Paperback

Published July 11, 2017

About the author

Author of UP, UP, EVER UP: JUNKO TABEI'S PIONEERING EVEREST CLIMB, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu (Clarion, 2024)- a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, DIWALI: A FESTIVAL OF LIGHT, illustrated by Darshika Varma (Penguin Random House, 2024), and BOLLYWOOD BEAT, illustrated by Devika Oza (Kids Can Press, 2026), as well as many other children's books. Represented by Lori Steel of SteelWorks Literary.

Reviews

[Janet Squires · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have an interest in STEM, you’ll want to check out Explore Comets and Asteroids! With 25 Great Projects by Anita Yasuda with illustrations by Bryan Stone.
Eighty-eight colorful, fact-filled pages provide a thorough overview of the subject and offer young scientists multiple opportunities for hands-on activities. Six well-organized chapters are enriched with maps, diagrams, photographs and illustrations. Words to Know, Good Science Practices, Keyword Prompts, Primary Source connections, QR codes, and small notes inviting readers to investigate, consider and discuss topics create a rich addition to the text.

A glossary of terms is followed by a section titled Resources includes Metric Conversions, Books, Websites, and a QR glossary for links to additional information.

For ages 7-10. Recommended as a fine addition to home and school library collections.

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young scientists interested in delving more deeply into the topic of comets and asteroids will find this guide both interesting and informational. It goes beyond offering basic information by examining both the science and the cultural history of how humans have studied and mythologized these naturally occurring oddities from space. It consistently offers opportunities for children to explore topics covered by referring them to other online and book resources with tricks like QR codes for easy exploration.

There are also 25 science projects included that can easily be done, most have commonly found materials so that they are not hard to replicate. The introductory materials include a page on good science practices, which will come in handy when working on the projects. Other book extras include a timeline, solar system maps, index, glossary, essential questions for each chapter, metric conversion tables, and a mad libs game.

I would recommend this book for purchase to any school or public library.

This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by SWON Libraries.

[Kids Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun at home experiments to do with families.