THE BOY WHOSE HEAD WAS FILLED WITH STARS

This biography of astronomer Edwin Hubble, once a boy looking up at the night sky, is a tribute to his life’s work and the joys of staying curious.

When he was n he was a boy, Edwin’s mother and grandfather were supportive of his interests, but when he was older, his father forbade him from studying astronomy. Hubble spent years working as a teacher, but his mind continued to dwell in the stars. After his father’s death, he followed his dreams, worked at Mount Wilson Observatory, studied galaxies, and proved both that the universe is much bigger than was previously thought—depicted in a striking double gatefold—and that it is expanding. The spreads featuring sprawling night skies dotted with stars are especially beguiling. And the book’s lovely pacing affords ample space to pay tribute to the sense of wonder that guided Hubble throughout his life, the repeated refrain being a set of three questions, printed in silver type, that haunted him: “How many stars are in the sky? How did the universe begin? Where did it come from?” The portion of the book about his discovery that the Andromeda Nebula is a separate galaxy gives credit where it’s due, paying tribute to Henrietta Swan Leavitt, an astronomer whose work came before Hubble’s. The story’s concluding direct address to readers—“Look….Look up at the stars”—is genuinely inspiring. All characters are White. Backmatter provides more details on Hubble’s discoveries and includes a bibliography.

Lively and wondrous—readers will be star-struck.