2023 Finalist: Young Adult Science Book

Astroquizzical: Solving the Cosmic Puzzles of Our Planets, Stars and Galaxies (Illustrated Edition), by Jillian Scudder. (Illustrated by Claire Lenkova.) Icon Books, 2021.

A beautifully illustrated, enlightening edition of astronomer Jillian Scudder’s exploration of our universe. Looking up at the night sky, it is almost impossible to imagine that we can trace our common ancestry with the distant stars and galaxies back over 13.8 billion years.

Astroquizzical explores this connection by travelling back through the generations of the cosmic family tree, from Earth (parent) to the stars (grandparents), galaxies (great grandparents) and first atoms of the Big Bang (great-great grandparents). On the journey, the reader is invited to become ‘astroquizzical’ by asking the questions and investigating the many scientific mysteries of how the universe was formed and how it works.

This updated and illustrated edition combines beautifully curated space images with ten sketchbook ‘thought experiments’ to create a uniquely accessible guide to the science of Earth’s place among the planets, stars, and galaxies.