LIFE ON EARTH: SPACE

From the Big Bang to space toilets, an outer-space Q-and-A with most of the answers hidden beneath multitudinous flaps.

Along with arrays of simply drawn but recognizable spacecraft, scientific gear, and heavenly bodies on, between, and under the large and small flaps on every stiff page, Lozano’s bright cartoon illustrations feature a human cast that is thoroughly diverse in age, gender, and skin color. The narrative content is, unfortunately, less appealing. Alexander asks and answers queries on a great range of subjects—usually accurately and sometimes cleverly (readers wanting to keep the planets in order either by size or by distance from the sun will find mnemonic prompts for both). However, the only telescopes she mentions are optical ones and the only spacecraft or rockets NASA-built, and she implies that Venus is the only planet visible to the naked eye. Moreover, a claim that “Most [meteorites] land in the desert or Antarctica” is nonsensical (perhaps she means that most are found in those locales), and a reference to “Kupier [sic] Belt Objects” isn’t the only sign of sloppy copy editing.

Broad of scope and easy on the eyes—but marred by too many errors and oversimplifications.