Inquisitive kids will love Exploring the Universe

Inquisitive kids love discovering the worlds that surround them, which is why our artful and accessible guide to space, Exploring the Universe: A Complete Guide to the Cosmos, is the perfect present to set them off on a life of discovery.

In the book, stunning layouts feature fascinating facts and the stories behind some of the most extraordinary features of our universe, from planets to black holes, and the technology we use to understand it, from artificial satellites to robotic space rovers.

Organized into 6 sections, starting with Earth and moving outwards,  Exploring the Universe covers absolutely everything up to and including  the very limits of our observable universe, allowing 8 to 14-aged readers to understand everything in the universe, from Earth to our solar system to the Milky Way and beyond.

Wrapped in a stunning holographic jacket, this is a comprehensive journey through the universe for young readers, sharing not just what we know, but how we know it – a fun read packed with fascinating facts and gloriously vivid illustrations.

With her introduction, conclusion, and glossary, science writer Isabel Thomas draws on the most up-to-date scientific information and approaches to space exploration. Thomas is a two-time winner of the AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books and has a research MPhil from the University of Cambridge. She previously wrote the bestselling Full of Life and Exploring the Elements for Phaidon.

Illustrator Sara Gillingham meanwhile (who keen-eyed Phaidon.com readers will have met here) is the award-winning art director and designer who created the global bestsellers Full of Life, Exploring the Elements, Seeing Stars, and Animals in the Sky.

Sara shared her illustrative approach with Phaidon in a recent interview.

“The books written by Isabel Thomas are incredible for the level of information in them and the craftsmanship of her words as well. I want to do justice to that. A lot of books that are written in that vein are illustrated photographically, so my challenge is trying to find what can these images deliver to a reader that satisfies some of the more factual pieces that need to be conveyed, as well as giving them a different aesthetic world than they might be used to in this type of book."

“I think that the beauty of the medium itself is the relationship between the words and the pictures and the fact that they don't repeat each other, but they work together to create something."

"One of the main challenges is creating something that has an accuracy and an informative quality to it that is rendered in my very minimal simplified style. The top challenge in those books is trying to create something that satisfies both of those things and not to lose the informational and the factual in the stylization.” Buy Exploring the Universe here.