I Wonder About Worlds: Discovering Planets and Exoplanets

A child’s stargazing excursion turns into an interstellar journey to explore faraway planets

During a night of stargazing, a child looks up at the planets that make up our solar system and wonders about what lies beyond.

The child imagines rocketing through the Milky Way to explore exoplanets—planets that exist outside our solar system. The child zooms past a fiery world made of lava and a water world with gargantuan rolling waves, both based on real exoplanets discovered by scientists. When the little astronaut visits an unpopulated exoplanet that looks exactly like Earth, they are reminded of home—and that’s when they turn their ship around and head back to the planet they know and love most.

Packed with captivating illustrations and fascinating facts, this companion to Journey Around the Sun and A Star Explodes is a whimsical introduction to our solar system and exoplanets. Throughout the book, sidebars provide further information on the planets in our solar system and the exoplanets spotted on the child’s journey. Author James Gladstone masterfully weaves together lyrical storytelling with STEM content for an engaging space journey that encourages readers to think about their place in the universe.