Night Becomes Day

This is a lovely book for young readers and even adults. It is written for young children, but the photography in the book is beautiful and as an adult, I appreciated the images and even layout of the photos. The author and photographer(s) blended their work together beautifully. Its lessons on change are evident by both word and picture and I was really impressed by the book overall.

I learned so much from Night Becomes Day! What a beautifully illustrated testament to the wonders of our world in the form of nature's mysterious transformations. I especially love the fonts and sizes of words to help the concepts stand out. Congratulations, Cynthia and your crew!

The author has a glossary to go along with this book on her website:
https://cynthiaargentine.com/books/night-becomes-day/

Argentine's Night Becomes Day is a lovely, informative book about natural transformations taking place on the earth. The photographs are beautiful, and the description of these wonders will engage and inspire student learning. Night Becomes Day would be appropriate for multiple reading levels covering picture books to elementary science studies. This book would greatly benefit from the addition of a glossary. Words such as ancient, intense, glacier, magma, cavern, spires, etc., should be included. Self-motivated younger readers might not comprehend some of the words used in the scientific descriptions found in each section and would benefit from having those words defined. A glossary would also enable teachers and parents (especially homeschoolers) to assign further study of the information presented.

A beautiful book that doesn't shortchange the science. Having tutored emerging readers for over a decade, I appreciate a book that piques a child's interest in science through bright, colorful images and text that entices them to learn more without speaking down to them. Taking the simple concept of night turning into day and extending it to encompass all forms of change in nature is an inventive concept executed to perfection by the author. Perhaps most importantly, children will be inspired by the story and pictures to explore the supplemental material in greater depth, thereby broadening both their language and scientific understanding.

This beautifully-written text illustrated with stunning photographs invites readers to observe and consider change in the natural world around them. Simple lyrical phrases introduce the constant transformations of land, water, plants, soil, air, minerals and crystals. The book’s final section allows “a closer look at the science of change” by tying earlier pages and photographs to concepts in geology, botany, physics, and chemistry. This final section gives scientific details and clear explanations to help readers understand tectonic plates, crystallization, the water cycle, erosion and more.. The author stresses that one change in nature impacts cascades of others and that “everything on Earth is connected. The science behind these connections is called ecology.” Vocabulary is presented throughout the book in context with pictures that will make new words accessible for young readers (loam, tendril, microbes, cavern, mineral spires, glacier), and lively onomatopoeia makes the text fun to read and hear. This is a great resource to kick off themed units on systems, cycles, or change in the world around us. It will provoke curiosity as readers think about the changes they have observed and those they wonder more about, A great selection for school or classroom libraries, family reading time, STEM collections, or a gift for that budding scientist/naturalist.

This is an excellent enrichment book for elementary kids highlighting all of the ways the natural world transforms itself. It touches on botany, chemistry, meteorology, geology, and more with striking pictures to illustrate.

As a bonus to the natural principles explained, the language is also rich and evocative. There's a sneaky lesson in onomatopoeia, comparisons/contrasts, and expressive words delivered right along with the science.

The main text that accompanies the illustrations is simple and fairly surface-level, but there's a nice section at the end that expands on each concept in more depth for curious readers.

This would be a wonderful addition to an elementary classroom or school library!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!