A beautifully illustrated Penguin Hardcover that invites readers to travel the night sky and discover the universe of stories in the stars To those who can decipher it, the night sky is alive with gods and goddesses, animals and mythical creatures—an endless carnival played out in shining constellations. Amidst this jet-black canvas pricked with white dots, a hunter leaps in pursuit with his dogs at his heels, a sea monster threatens a maiden in distress, and a pair of twins lives forever. In Stories in the Stars, writer and stargazer Susanna Hislop and international artist Hannah Waldron present an imaginative journey through the heavens. Leaping between centuries, cultures, and traditions, they explore each of the night sky’s eighty-eight constellations through gorgeous illustrations and vivid descriptions that will linger in readers’ minds long after they’ve closed the book and stepped outside on a starry night.

Share the wonder of the stars with this delightful storybook collection featuring constellation myths from around the world. For thousands of years people have looked up to the night sky and told stories about the stars. These epic tales tell of vengeful gods and goddesses, of monsters and heroes. Others try to make sense of the natural world, or unravel the mysterious forces of the universe. This stunning book brings together 23 of these legends from all over the world: from Ancient Greece to North America, Egypt, China, India, and the South Pacific. Written by award-winning author Anita Ganeri and with beautifully detailed artwork by illustrator Andy Wilx, this is a magical book to be treasured for generations to come.

If you go outside on a clear night, you can't help yourself. Your head tilts back, your eyes rise up, and you find yourself gazing at the stars . . . WOW! From the beginning of time, people have admired the night sky's beauty. The night sky is our oldest picture book, and Wishing on a Star retells some of these stories from around the world in simple language that kids can understand. Wishing on a Star also includes lots of fun activities that celebrate the stars. Learn how to make a twinkling thaumatrope, fly a starry kite, and act in your own constellation play. Star maps and stargazing tips show how to find the constellations, and cool science facts teach more about the stars.

Follow an epic animal race, a quest for a disembodied hand, and an emu egg hunt in constellation stories from diverse cultures We can see love, betrayal, and friendship in the heavens, if we know where to look. A world expert on cultural understandings of cosmology, Anthony Aveni provides an unconventional atlas of the night sky, introducing readers to tales beloved for generations. The constellations included are not only your typical Greek and Roman myths, but star patterns conceived by a host of cultures, non-Western and indigenous, ancient and contemporary. The sky has long served as a template for telling stories about the meaning of life. People have looked for likenesses between the domains of heaven and earth to help marry the unfamiliar above to the quotidian below. Perfect reading for all sky watchers and storytellers, this book is an essential complement to Western mythologies, showing how the confluence of the natural world and culture of heavenly observers can produce a variety of tales about the shapes in the sky.

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian and NPR “A writer who is gifted not just with extraordinary talent but also with a subtle, original, and probing mind.” —Amitav Ghosh In one of the singularly imaginative stories from Kanishk Tharoor’s Swimmer Among the Stars, despondent diplomats entertain themselves by playing table tennis in zero gravity—for after rising seas destroy Manhattan, the United Nations moves to an orbiting space hotel. In other tales, a team of anthropologists treks to a remote village to record a language’s last surviving speaker intoning her native tongue; an elephant and his driver cross the ocean to meet the whims of a Moroccan princess; and Genghis Khan’s marauding army steadily approaches an unnamed city’s walls. With exuberant originality and startling vision, Tharoor cuts against the grain of literary convention, drawing equally from ancient history and current events. His world-spanning stories speak to contemporary challenges of environmental collapse and cultural appropriation, but also to the workings of legend and their timeless human truths. Whether refashioning the romances of Alexander the Great or confronting the plight of today’s refugees, Tharoor writes with distinctive insight and remarkable assurance. Swimmer Among the Stars announces the arrival of a vital, enchanting talent.

A richly illustrated guide to the myths, histories, and science of the celestial bodies of our solar system, with stories and information about constellations, planets, comets, the northern lights, and more. Combining art, mythology, and science, What We See in the Stars gives readers a tour of the night sky through more than 100 magical pieces of original art, all accompanied by text that weaves related legends and lore with scientific facts. This beautifully packaged book covers the night sky's most brilliant features--such as the constellations, the moon, the bright stars, and the visible planets--as well as less familiar celestial phenomena like the outer planets, nebulae, and deep space. Adults seeking to recapture the magic of youthful stargazing, younger readers interested in learning about natural history and outer space, and those who appreciate beautiful, hand-painted art will all delight in this charming book.

New into paperback! HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW THE STARS CAME TO BE? The Fisherman's Daughter loved to dance in the sunlight, and bathe in the glow of the moon, but when the moon disappeared for a few nights each month, she worried about her father and how he would find his way home from the sea in the darkness of the night. One night the sun finds her sobbing and so he takes one of his rays and smashes it onto the ground, creating the stars and gives the girl the task of putting them into the dark night sky. This beautifully illustrated story gives us a new folk tale, and a new way to look up at the night sky.