Children's books about camping, stargazing and constellations
🏕 🔭 🌌 Notes from the Reading Nook: July 6
Good morning! Happy Tuesday.
What we’re reading
Jack and the Beanstalk by John Cech
Sylvia Long’s Thumbelina by Sylvia Long
Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus
If You Plant Kindness by Kadir Nelson
Chester the Worldly Pig by Bill Peet
Mini issue! Camping + stargazing and constellations
‘Tis the season, is it not? I’m not a huge camper — I enjoy it when I’m in the midst of it but the monumental amount of work beforehand and after always puts a bit of a damper on things for me (unless it’s just me and my husband, in which case it feels as if all we need is a tent, a can opener, and some bug spray and we’re set, which is a kind of freedom I did not fully understand until we became parents). Still, the effort is worth it — especially to see how much fun my kids have — so I’m trying to be a better sport about it in general. Maybe this booklist is actually for me 🤷🏻♀️
I’ve mentioned a few times in the past several months that my children are obsessed with space, so I could go on and on about astronomy books for kids as we’ve read (and now collected) a mountain of them. But for our purposes here I’ll focus more specifically on stargazing and constellations — we actually prefer to stargaze in the winter when it’s dark by 4:30pm, but if you’re camping or outside at night in the summer, the chances of you looking up are high, right? So here we go.
Camping
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol (a graphic novel for older readers or read-aloud)
Camp Tiger by Susan Choi
Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins (for babies and toddlers)
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen (the second of three Mr. McGee titles)
Penny & Jelly: Slumber Under the Stars by Maria Gianferrari
Bailey Goes Camping by Kevin Henkes (actually about camping out in the living room, but it’s a sweet story)
The Big Alfie Out of Doors Storybook by Shirley Hughes (a collection — one story is about Alfie camping in the backyard with his dad)
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look (for older readers or read-aloud; part of the hilarious Alvin Ho series)
The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann
Bradford Street Buddies: Backyard Camp-Out by Jerdine Nolen
Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George (poetry)
Curious George Goes Camping by Margret and H.A. Rey
Hiking Day by Anne Rockwell (not directly about camping but depicts an activity that often happens while camping, and you can never go wrong with Rockwell)
When We go Camping by Margaret Ruurs
The Lost Lake by Allen Say
Stella and Roy Go Camping by Ashley Wolff
Stargazing & other nighttime adventures
The Big Dipper by Franklyn M. Branley (nonfiction science)
The Sky Is Full of Stars by Franklyn M. Branley (nonfiction science)
The Story of The Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale by Joseph Bruchac and Gayle Ross (I reviewed this in issue No. 39)
The Night Walk by Marie Dorleans
Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian (poetry)
Star Stories: Constellation Tales From Around the World by Anita Ganeri (to peek at a few of the stunning illustrations in this book, see issue No. 31, where I briefly mentioned it at the beginning)
Stargazers by Gail Gibbons (nonfiction science)
Once Upon a Starry Night: A Book of Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton
Zoo in the Sky: A Book of Animal Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton (I don’t like reading either of Mitton’s titles aloud, per se, but they are visually gorgeous and helpful for looking up specific constellations)
Meteor! by Patricia Polacco
Find the Constellations by H.A. Rey (nonfiction reference — to help you learn about the sky so you can help your kids)
Our Stars by Anne Rockwell (nonfiction science for the youngest kids)
A Full Moon is Rising by Marilyn Singer (poetry)
And for an excellent book that covers both these topics and a ton more, do not miss Keepers of the Night: Native American Stories and Nocturnal Activities for Children by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac. The Keepers series is superb, and this is my favorite of them all.
Happy camping, stargazing, and nighttime summer fun!
Read good books and take good care 😘
Sarah
@can_we_read