As usual, Branley has presented science in a clear and very readable format. However, Day Light, Night Light has a limited content scope--natural and man-made sources of light and seeing objects from reflected light. Other books in this "Let's read and find out science" series have a much broader usability because of the excellent content which stretches their appropriateness higher than the reading level of the text. I often look for books by Branley and others in this series for my curriculum development work.

This is a very good beginning book on the subject for children. It begins with scientific information about how earthquakes occur, and then goes through what may happen during an earthquake, such as buildings falling down, fires, gas leaks, etc. It goes into further particulars, such as how it feels to be in an earthquake, and what safety measures to take.

The illustrations are very simple, and not especially appealing, but they do help illustrate the points well.

All in all, a good book for children ages 8 -12 who live in earthquake prone areas, especially.

The book was about astronauts orbiting in out space. It gives details of what they do when they have to eat, go to the bathroom, etc. It also explains about gravity and how the astronauts deal with gravity issues while they are in space. The book talks about how the space shuttle takes off and lands and how jobs would be done while on board.
I liked this book because it teaches children about things that happen in outer space in ways that they can easily understand. It had great Pictures that illustrated the materials that astronauts would use while they were in space and it also showed certain techniques that they would use to do tasks while on the space shuttle.
I think with this book the author was really trying to illustrate the ways things happen while astronauts are in orbit. He was trying to write and illustrate all the things that happen so that kids can understand it. The author tries to create a book were the children really feel like they are going into space and what that would be like.

If you blow A balloon up and let it go it might go strate up in the air like a rocet ship. There are two space ships. One is a space shuttle and rocket. This was anisting book.

if you have an energetic child like my 5 year old who is always asking why - this is a great book. I got this book around summer soltice when my sun did not understand why he is going to bed when it is so bright outside. By doing the "experiment" with an orange and a flashlight, I think he understands why we have seasons.

...with it's ability to explain this twist of nature at a level young children can understand. I was most impressed with the fact that not only does it describe the scientific aspects of tornado formation in simple terms, it also discusses tornado safety by giving kids several examples of where they might be when a tornado hits and the best place to take cover for each situation. While the publisher lists ages 4-8 as the targeted reading level, I found with our library groups at school that our 9-11 year olds were very interested in it as well. If you have younger children and live in an area where tornadoes are a real threat, I highly recommend using this book to introduce tornado safety.

Although this book is thorough in describing the differences between viruses and bacteria, I think it misses an important opportunity to reinforce hygiene...wash your hands, cover your mouth etc. These are given a cursory review on the last page, with no accompanying illustration. I had hoped that this book would help my almost-4-year-old to understand how people get sick, how they get well, and how they can help prevent communicable disease to reinforce what I teach at home. I do not think that the authors did a very good job of meeting those expectations.

My three-year old son really enjoys this book. The book's fairly simple, yet informative account of how viruses and bacteria can make us sick helps to make the abstract concept of germs more concrete for him. As an added bonus, the book gives a plug for handwashing, covering mouths when sneezing or coughing, and not sharing cups that most preschoolers can benefit from. I must also confess that, despite having read the Times Science section for years, I learned quite a bit about viruses and bacteria from this simple, well-illustrated book. A good buy, especially for parents who field a lot of factual queries every day. The Let's Read and Find Out series is a great way to let someone else do the explaining for a change.

By relating famous hoaxes such as the radio broadcast of H.G. Well's War of the Worlds and discussing recent space probes to Mars, Mercury and Venus, Branley comes to the conclusion that there might be life beyond Earth... but not in our solar system. While he admits there may be possibilities of life in other galaxies, he claims there most likely isn't life in our solar system except for what exists on Earth. This is an outdated and inaccurate view. The goal of the series is to introduce basic science concepts to young children, but the only concept I came away with was very Earth-centric - none of our species could live on Mars, ergo, there is no life on Mars. Branley never defines life. In truth, we cannot assume "life" to be carbon based, requiring warm temperatures and sunlight. In fact, on our very own planet we have found species that do not require these things. Instead of writing "there is no life on Mars," Branley should have written, "There is no life as we know it today on Mars. If this idea is too scary for young children, perhaps there isn't a need for a low-level book on this topic. At the least, the book serves as a jumping off point for an interesting discussion. The authorial intrusion in the book ("People also say it's silly to believe there is life on them [other planets]. I don't think so.") is annoying and condescending. The writing is too simplified; children could handle more details than are given about the planets, the space program, and the various ways alien life has been envisioned in our culture. The illustrations are a bizarre mix of simple brightly colored collage style pictures and photographs. The diagram of the solar system is great, and whimsical aliens decorate the end papers and many pages. A page of further activities concludes the book. No works are cited, no resources for more information are listed. A glossary, index and timeline would have been appropriate inclusions. This book was originally published in 1984; it needs much more overhaul than it received.

This book talks in children's words about a subject that adults learned so long ago that they may have forgotten. The artistic side of the book keeps children entertained without taking away from the subject content. My five year old loves this book.