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Shine, Star, Shine!
Travel with Star as her light zips across 93 million miles of space from her home to Earth, where she ripens crops, keeps us warm, creates weather and reveals a waking world full of life.
Complete with a list of facts about the stars that fill our sky and why they are important, this charming poetic picture book combines fiction and non-fiction to make a perfect educational resource for children whether at home or in the classroom.
Complete with a list of facts about the stars that fill our sky and why they are important, this charming poetic picture book combines fiction and non-fiction to make a perfect educational resource for children whether at home or in the classroom.
- GenresChildrens
36 pages, Paperback
Published November 16, 2021
About the author
Dom Conlon
30 books16 followersDom Conlon is a poet whose work has been praised by Chris Riddell, Brian Bilston, A F Harrold, Nicola Davies, George Szirtes and many more.
Whilst primarily a writer for children, Dom's poetry reaches across all ages as he explores the natural world in search of the moments of connection experienced by all living things. From the Moon in his book This Rock That Rock, to the world of hares in Leap, Hare, Leap, Dom brings a quiet poetry and gentle humour to every subject he tackles.
Whilst primarily a writer for children, Dom's poetry reaches across all ages as he explores the natural world in search of the moments of connection experienced by all living things. From the Moon in his book This Rock That Rock, to the world of hares in Leap, Hare, Leap, Dom brings a quiet poetry and gentle humour to every subject he tackles.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 28, 2021
Shine, Star, Shine! by Dom Conlon is a poetic and educational book all about the sun and what the big star in the sky does for the people, animals, seas, etc.
Via a series of different scenes, the author demonstrates just how much the sun is required for everyday things, such as heating the waters, growing plants, helping spices to get their taste, for animals to live, and much, much more.
Most of the illustrations are quite dark and dull with the sun being a pop of bright orange colour on the pages to emphasise it. There is also so much going on in the illustrations that it can take a while just to take everything in.
This is a lovely, sweet read that combines beautiful words with factual information. At the back of the book is an explanation of what some of the words used in the book means which will help younger readers to understand the story better.
Via a series of different scenes, the author demonstrates just how much the sun is required for everyday things, such as heating the waters, growing plants, helping spices to get their taste, for animals to live, and much, much more.
Most of the illustrations are quite dark and dull with the sun being a pop of bright orange colour on the pages to emphasise it. There is also so much going on in the illustrations that it can take a while just to take everything in.
This is a lovely, sweet read that combines beautiful words with factual information. At the back of the book is an explanation of what some of the words used in the book means which will help younger readers to understand the story better.
January 9, 2022
This is a lovely book all about the sun and has some stunning illustrations! Star, (which we call the sun) does lots of things: heats up the world, helps warm children, grows crops and much more. Following Star as she travels from east to west, this book shows children exactly what star does and why she is so important. ‘Shine, Star, Shine!’ is a little wider than A4 in size and the paperback is filled with lots of thick matt pages of illustrations and text.
The book takes a look at the facts about what our sun does, while explaining every scene in a poetic way. Some of the lines in this book have some rhyming, though most don’t, but all of them show some aspect of our sun and how important it is to our world. The book begins by explaining how Star came to be, before showing us the different things that Star does. Although the text focuses on what Star does, the illustrations accompanying every double page shows these things happening while also following the journey of a boy and his cat.
I love the illustrations in this book. Most of them take on a darker tone, often showing Star in space or against the darkness of night. There’s something so interesting about the illustrations. They are so detailed and I just love how you can spot lots of interesting things you might miss on first glance while looking at this book. The illustrations do show the different aspects of Star, such as how she warms up children playing in the sea, the aurora lights and even just rising and falling throughout a typical day. And through this whole journey there is a little boy and his cat, who are always present in each double page, either watching Star on TV, experiencing her in a field of crops, etc. I especially love the last couple of pages of the story, which not only explain more about what Star does but I just love that image of the boy, older, and the final image of the cat which was just so special and perfect.
There’s something very interesting about this book and I just love how children can learn about Star (our sun) and how important it is to our lives. The words in this book are good, but it’s the added pictures that made me enjoy reading this more. It’s a very different illustration to the ones in ‘Blow, Wind, Blow!’, given how dark most of the images are, which did make me wonder if I’d like this so much, but there’s something so lovely and striking about the detail in all of the illustrations and the on-going story of the boy and his cat too. There are a few facts about stars and space at the end of the book, which I found very interesting too, and it’s a great introduction for children who might develop an interest in stars in the future.
Overall this is a lovely children’s book and a great one to introduce the sun. The darker images might not be to everyone’s taste, but learning about the sun, Star, and everything Star does made this a great read. And with such lovely and detailed illustrations, I’m sure many will want to look at this book more than once.
-Thanks to Graffeg for a free copy for review.
The book takes a look at the facts about what our sun does, while explaining every scene in a poetic way. Some of the lines in this book have some rhyming, though most don’t, but all of them show some aspect of our sun and how important it is to our world. The book begins by explaining how Star came to be, before showing us the different things that Star does. Although the text focuses on what Star does, the illustrations accompanying every double page shows these things happening while also following the journey of a boy and his cat.
I love the illustrations in this book. Most of them take on a darker tone, often showing Star in space or against the darkness of night. There’s something so interesting about the illustrations. They are so detailed and I just love how you can spot lots of interesting things you might miss on first glance while looking at this book. The illustrations do show the different aspects of Star, such as how she warms up children playing in the sea, the aurora lights and even just rising and falling throughout a typical day. And through this whole journey there is a little boy and his cat, who are always present in each double page, either watching Star on TV, experiencing her in a field of crops, etc. I especially love the last couple of pages of the story, which not only explain more about what Star does but I just love that image of the boy, older, and the final image of the cat which was just so special and perfect.
There’s something very interesting about this book and I just love how children can learn about Star (our sun) and how important it is to our lives. The words in this book are good, but it’s the added pictures that made me enjoy reading this more. It’s a very different illustration to the ones in ‘Blow, Wind, Blow!’, given how dark most of the images are, which did make me wonder if I’d like this so much, but there’s something so lovely and striking about the detail in all of the illustrations and the on-going story of the boy and his cat too. There are a few facts about stars and space at the end of the book, which I found very interesting too, and it’s a great introduction for children who might develop an interest in stars in the future.
Overall this is a lovely children’s book and a great one to introduce the sun. The darker images might not be to everyone’s taste, but learning about the sun, Star, and everything Star does made this a great read. And with such lovely and detailed illustrations, I’m sure many will want to look at this book more than once.
-Thanks to Graffeg for a free copy for review.
July 20, 2025
This review is for a friend who asked me to check the book out.
First off: Don't borrow from borrowbox, this book was blurry and difficult to read, the zoom function for it wasn't working as well as it normally does, and the words were difficult to make out let alone read.
Secondly: The art was cute. It's not an art style I'm too keen on but I absolutely adored all the nature elements, and how the house was a contemporary design.
Thirdly: I think this is a brilliant little kids book. Its short, and sweet. The book has a simple enough plot which is easy enough to understand. I think that this would be a brilliant edition to any library, and I think the kids will adore the colours, a simple palette, and a very funny little short story.
I've rated it 3 stars because personally its not my kind of book, again the art, the plot, not the kind of thing I Would go out of my way to read now as a 25 year old man, however I also know I can't sit here and say it was awful because this is a kids book. It's not made for someone like me. I think kids will absolutely love it. I think if you like fantastic mr fox, you will enjoy this book.
First off: Don't borrow from borrowbox, this book was blurry and difficult to read, the zoom function for it wasn't working as well as it normally does, and the words were difficult to make out let alone read.
Secondly: The art was cute. It's not an art style I'm too keen on but I absolutely adored all the nature elements, and how the house was a contemporary design.
Thirdly: I think this is a brilliant little kids book. Its short, and sweet. The book has a simple enough plot which is easy enough to understand. I think that this would be a brilliant edition to any library, and I think the kids will adore the colours, a simple palette, and a very funny little short story.
I've rated it 3 stars because personally its not my kind of book, again the art, the plot, not the kind of thing I Would go out of my way to read now as a 25 year old man, however I also know I can't sit here and say it was awful because this is a kids book. It's not made for someone like me. I think kids will absolutely love it. I think if you like fantastic mr fox, you will enjoy this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2021
We tend to forget that our Sun is a star, and a very important one to us. In Shine, Star, Shine, we are reminded of that at the very beginning. And we know the Sun shines, but we take for granted what that means to life here on Earth. The lyrical language turns factual information into poetry that brings fascination to this everyday, commonplace occurrence. It becomes ordinary no more. The text combines with gloriously painted, evocative illustrations that give us a genuine feel for the Earths' journey around our Star, the way it effects life in different environments and landscapes, what happens when day becomes night...and why. And then, our attention is turned to the pictures in the night sky, leaving us to ponder those many other Stars out there. Add to all this a wonderful page on Star Facts, introducing words (and their meanings) that might be new to us and you have the complete package. Beautiful, atmospheric, intriguing, informative...and an utter joy to read.
January 19, 2023
A book about the sun as viewed from earth.
The text was so awkward to read, I wondered if it had been translated but it hasn't. Reading the back of the book I discovered this is by an award winning poet which surprised me. Some parts rhyme and some parts don't and it has a very unpredictable rhythm so it's hard to know how to read it, this must make for a difficult read aloud, which is what picture books are most likely to be used for. The illustrations we're okay, quite a dark and gloomy colour palette, a rainbow had it's colour order back to front which didn't seem appropriate in a factual book.
The text was so awkward to read, I wondered if it had been translated but it hasn't. Reading the back of the book I discovered this is by an award winning poet which surprised me. Some parts rhyme and some parts don't and it has a very unpredictable rhythm so it's hard to know how to read it, this must make for a difficult read aloud, which is what picture books are most likely to be used for. The illustrations we're okay, quite a dark and gloomy colour palette, a rainbow had it's colour order back to front which didn't seem appropriate in a factual book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews