Abigail and The Birth of The Sun | Book Review

“Abigail and the Birth of the Sun is, at its heart, about showing children just how fundamentally connected everything down here is to everything up there. We are, as Abigail’s daddy explains to her, all made of stardust.”

Who knew? Abigails Daddy did. And so the story is a simple yet captivating explanation about such things in answer to a young girl with a big question “where did the sun and the planets come from?” Such a familiar story to many of us, a kid full of wonder about the universe around them with as many questions about it as there are stars in the sky. You can imagine then how easily inquisitive minds will lock on to this book to hear that “our atoms were literally forged in the hearts of stars!”

Our solar system and space is the hot topic of the term at my sons school and it is the very first topic (along with Dinosaurs) that has fuelled his passion in his entire 5 year old life. So Abigail and the Birth of the Sun was right up his galactic street, and he wasn’t alone in having his interest sparked. In a charming kid friendly way we hear about the bursting old star, expanding clouds of stardust, elements attracting, and planets and life forming, and that’s how we’re all magically (but scientifically) made of stardust!

Abigail and the birth of the sun
Abigail and the birth of the sun
Abigail and the birth of the sun

Fun Fact for those likely to be as intrigued as your kids ⬇️

The first generation of stars were made of the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. But the intense heat and pressure in their cores allowed these lighter atoms to fuse together to create the heavier elements necessary for life on our beautiful planet—oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. This process is called nuclear fusion.

Eventually these stars ran out of hydrogen, causing them to EXPLODE in a huge galactic extravaganza called supernova. The heavier elements were cast out in an expanding cloud of stardust, which collided with other clouds to kick off a new process of star formation. This cycle continued until there were enough heavy elements in the cosmos to start forming planets… and life! All thanks to the immense fusion engines that are stars… just like the ‘big old star’ in the story.

Abigail and the Birth of the Sun is beautifully illustrated accentuating the wonder of it all, and is a lovely book to read to a wondrous child, especially if they have big questions like Abigail. Likely to fan the fires of fascination, be prepared for many more questions you possibly won’t be able to answer!

author ronnieWritten by Ronnie Swainston

Online Producer & Experiences Editor Ronnie is mum to two spirited kids who keep her on her toes. With a love for travel, film, tv, photography & (eating) food keeping her wishing for more time, & having a keen curiosity means she’ll give almost anything a go making her, and her family, up for the job!

Favourite place to be: On an adventure

9 Comments

  1. Alezandra 02/08/2019 at 10:36 pm

    We are into Space exploration books at the moment and this is right up our alley. Thank you for including kid book reviews now and it gives me an idea of what books to look out for and what to add to our growing book library.

  2. candyjanenz 02/08/2019 at 5:23 pm

    sounds like an interesting book – my boys are not yet into the stars and planets but I am sure that they will be and will have lots of questions that I will need to read up on to answer. I think we would all learn from reading the book.

  3. MuddledUpMolly 30/07/2019 at 10:03 pm

    Our children have not shown much of an interest in the solar system but I’m sure it will come in time as they learn more about it. This would be a lovely story to share with our little lady and something her big brother would no doubt enjoy reading with her too 🙂

  4. SarahBlair 22/07/2019 at 2:11 pm

    My daughter, who is now 7, when she was little every night before she went to be she would ‘need to’ go outside and look at the moon and the stars. She loves them and is so intrigued by the vastness of space! This book sounds like a lovely story that she would enjoy a lot!

  5. Shorrty4life1 18/07/2019 at 5:10 pm

    My two children show a very keen interest in stars and the planet. On nice nights we can sit down and watch the stars outside for ages. It’s great fun and relaxing. They believe the stars are their passed away loved ones so the look for the brightest ones. This book sounds absolutely amazing I might have to get the kids to get it out at the school library so we can all read it together.

  6. Micht 17/07/2019 at 1:01 am

    My daughter shows a keen interest in space and the planets but our worldview is God centred and we dont believe nothing can create everything, even the stuff that makes stars has to start somewhere and we believe it to be God who created it all…my children understand it this way and for us its the best way to share truth with them… coincidently…my daughters name is Abigail as well…

  7. Mands1980 16/07/2019 at 5:41 pm

    All my kids love facts about space and the solar system especially since matariki this year. We look up at the sky some night and I point out things I learned as a child. This book sounds great for all kids and true and very informative I love books like this.

  8. Bevik1971 12/07/2019 at 10:14 am

    My 6 year old daughter is intrigued by space, the solar system and planets (as am I). Even though scientists etc can tell us some about all of this, man really has no idea how much is out there and how it got there (my opinion 🙂 ). I would love to get a telescope so we can do some star gazing. This book sounds really great and I’m sure my daughter would love reading it 🙂

  9. Jen_Wiig 08/07/2019 at 9:38 pm

    Sounds like a really interesting book and neat way to explain one way of how things came about. My middle son who also has ASD is absolutely fascinated by space and all things space related so think he’d really enjoy this book too.

Leave A Comment