Under the Night Sky (Written by Amy Lundebrek; Illustrated by Anna Rich)

If you leave a comment on this post anytime between 12/13 and 12/15 (by 8:00 p.m. CST on Monday), you have a chance to win a free copy of this beautiful picture book UNDER THE NIGHT SKY about the aurora borealis! Please make sure to put an email address with your comment, so it is easy for me to contact you.

Reviewed by Margo Dill, www.margodill.com, margodll@aol.com

Picture book, contemporary, for older preschool to 3rd grade students
Young boy as main character
Rating: Beautiful illlustrations along with a touching text.

Short, short summary: A young boy is waiting for his mom to get off from her job at the factory before he goes to sleep each night. He is in bed, pretending to be asleep, whenever she comes in to kiss him good-night. One night, she comes in very excited and tells him to get dressed in warm clothes. She takes him outside with several other community members, who are all looking up in the sky. And what do they see? The northern lights! The illustrations of the aurora borealis are beautiful and ones that you won’t want to miss. The author does a fantastic job of weaving a touching story about a mother and her son into the description of this natural wonder.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Depending on the age of your students or your children, you can either explain to them about the aurora borelais, or northern lights, or you can ask them to do their own research. After you have explained to students why this occurs or they have found out through their own research, ask them to illustrate pictures of themselves and their family members watching the beautiful northern lights.

2. You can teach and practice word choice, one of the six traits of writing, when you read this book to your students or your children. This book is full of rich description. For example, the author uses the word “stings” to describe how the icy air feels on the boy’s throat. That is such a perfect word to use for that feeling of cold air on your throat! Talk to your students about finding the perfect word, and how it may take a few revisions of a story or poem to accomplish good word choice.

3. In the story, the main character sees a boy, who he once made fun of, looking at the northern lights, too. He asks the boy to join him on the hood of his car, and they watch the sky together. What do your students or your children think about this? Is there anyone that they have some problems with that they could ask to maybe sit with them at lunch or on the bus? Do they think it was easy or hard for the main character to be nice to the boy? How do your students think the boy felt to be sitting on the hood of the car with everyone–to be included? Depending on the age of your students, you can have them write about this discussion in their journals when you are finished.

Don’t miss the other stops on the Under the Night Sky blog tour. You can visit:

Monday, Dec. 8: Shelf Elf
Wednesday, Dec. 10: The Wild Rumpus Starts
Thursday, Dec. 11: In the Pages
Friday, Dec. 12: The Well Read Child
Sunday, Dec. 14: Ready, Set, Read
Monday, Dec. 15: Becky’s Book Reviews
Tuesday, Dec. 16: Nature Moms
Friday, Dec. 19: Green Hour

If you like to take pictures of beautiful scenes, you might try this popular camera:

Don’t forget to leave a comment! Do you know any other books about science topics or the northern lights? Do you have a favorite book about a “relationship” between parent and child? Tell us about your book in a comment. Or write anything you want! You might win this book. (You can also email your comments to margodll@aol.com if you are having trouble posting a comment.)

photo by zhengxu www.flickr.com