Ad Astra! Astrophysics for Babies by Chris Ferrie

He's kidding, right?

Why is author Chris Ferrie touting the periodic table while babies are still figuring out gravity by pushing their rattles off of their high chairs?

Ferrie sincerely believes that all that experimentation with falling bodies proves that humans are all born scientists, and in this just-published book in his popular Baby University series, Astrophysics for Babies (Baby University) (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018), he doesn't hesitate to take his precocious tots and their doting parents ad astra, to the stars. You're never to young to begin, and Ferrie's lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek text begins with the ball, the basic shape of the planets and stars.

STARS LOOK SMALL BECAUSE THEY ARE SO FAR AWAY.

Ferrie explains atoms and how they combine to produce energy, which is source of light and heat and how they use basic elements like carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. He explains how stars collide and how matter forms. And he touches on how we ourselves are a part of all that.

THE ATOMS OF OLD STARS LIVE IN YOU!

With simple illustrations Chris Ferrie and Julia Kregenow introduce toddlers and preschoolers to the concepts and vocabulary of astrophysics, while their parents get a good review themselves. Other books in this series include the top-selling Quantum Physics for Babies (Baby University), Newtonian Physics for Babies (Baby University). and Ferrie's delightful science spoof of a nursery classic, Goodnight Lab: A Scientific Parody (Baby University) (see review here).