Look up! What could be more magical than a summer night rife with twinkling lights? And if you have a telescope, what a delight to share with your kids a close-up view of the stars and planets in our vast universe. Come mid-August and your family is in for an amazing treat: the Perseid meteor showers. For optimal viewing, try leaving the light-polluted DMV area for a rural enclave or a national or state park. To get everyone excited for the show, start with the night sky books for kids below, chosen to explain meteors and the Perseid showers in greater detail.
See real meteorites in Washington, DC
If you want to see meteorites up close, visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. It houses one of the largest collections in the world, in the hall of geology, gems and minerals.
Night sky books for kids ages 2 to 7
The Night Sky by Marion Dane Bauer
Illustrated by John Wallace
Simon & Schuster, 2023, $4.99
Why do stars twinkle? What’s a falling star? Little ones have a million questions, and Newbery Honor-winning author Marion Dane Bauer can help to answer them. With his whimsical animals and curious youngsters, artist John Wallace sets a tone of warmth and wonder in accompanying illustrations. Bauer explains that “stars twinkle because their light bounces and bumps through our atmosphere to reach us.” And that a falling star is really a meteor, which is “made up of rocks from outer space.” She mentions that during the annual Perseid meteor shower, “you might see up to one hundred meteors in an hour.” A page of interesting facts at the end rounds out this gem of an early reader.
Rocket Says Look Up! by Nathan Bryon
Illustrated by Dapo Adeola
Random House, 2019, $17.99
In her astronaut playsuit, Rocket is a kid on a mission. She’s inspired by her role model Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. Rocket wants to share her knowledge and joy with others. The problem: everyone keeps talking on or looking down at their phones, especially her older brother Jamal. But when she organizes a meteor-shower watch party in a local park one night, Rocket finally gets everyone’s attention. Time passes, though, and nothing happens. People start to leave and then “SUDDENLY … there’s a big bright light” and meteors begin zooming across the sky. This book captures a child’s single-minded passion as it intersects with a magnificent natural phenomenon.
Meteor shower books for tweens
Exploring Meteor Showers by Brigid Gallagher
Capstone, 2018, $8.99
Vivid photos and intriguing text showcase all things meteor, including a calendar of annual showers. For example, the Lyrids every April is “one of the oldest reported meteor showers,” dating back to 687 B.C. The Perseids are “known as the best meteor shower of the year.” In Antarctica, there’s a meteorite, discovered in 1984, that had crashed into Earth 13,000 years ago. Scientists believe that it came from Mars! And did you know that studying meteorites can “help us to understand more about the history of the planetary system”? They’ve allowed us to date the origin of our solar system to 4.6 billion years ago.
Kaleidoscope Club: The Meteor Shower by Marie Mazas
Illustrated by Joëlle Passeron
Blue Dot Kids, 2024, $7.95
The second book in the Kaleidoscope Club series finds best friends Nour and August planning a meteor-watch party. This chapter book ingeniously blends in facts about engineering and science, so that young readers might try them too. They can make their own bat-box habitat as Nour constructs hers. And like the two friends, they might share information about the dangers of light pollution in their communities and advocate for change. But when the duo adds a haunted treehouse to their watch party, complete with goopy and fizzy substances, that’s when the science fun hits the fan.
Night Sky by Howard Schneider
National Geographic Kids, 2016, $12.99
This National Geographic Ultimate Explorer Field Guide is a must-have for any family interested in star gazing. Its organization into double-page spreads, with a heading and sidebars for each, makes information easy to find, and the many color photos allow readers to visualize content. There are spreads devoted to Ancient Skywatchers; Our Galaxy: The Milky Way; Comets; and various constellations. A three-page glossary defines key terms and suggests “be a skywatcher” activities that encourage participation and experimentation. Eager to get started? Learn about helpful equipment in the section on binoculars and telescopes and then turn to Tips for Reading the Night Sky.
Night sky and space books for teens
Meteor Men by Jeff Parker
Illustrated by Sandy Jarrell
Oni Press, 2022, $19.99
This compelling sci-fi graphic novel chronicles the adventures of recent orphan Alden Baylor. The largest meteor shower in history brings a passive invasion of aliens. Alden is able to make contact with and communicate with them. What do they want? Do they plan to take over the Earth? The answers are surprising, and the government remains suspicious. The ending is both gut punch and mystical revelation. The panel art is stunning, with the vast panoply of the starry universe often in the dark background.
Once you have your stack picked out, plan the viewing. Our guide to family stargazing events near DC rounds up telescope nights and Perseid watch parties at observatories and parks across the region, and our list of the best stargazing spots in the DMV points you toward the darkest skies within 90 minutes of the District. Hungry for more reading recommendations? Browse our picks for the best kids’ environmental books and our roundup of children’s books that take young readers around the world.
Mary Quattlebaum lives in Washington, DC and is the author of 30 award-winning children’s books, most recently “Queen Elizabeth II,” an early reader biography. She teaches in the graduate program in writing for children at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a popular school and conference speaker. maryquattlebaum.com
