#173 of 1001 · January 20, 2021

Every one of us surely has occasion now and then to consider the nature of existence on other worlds. In her gorgeous and ethereal Star Child, Claire A. Nivola turns this paradigm on its head and asks us to look at life on Earth through extraterrestrial eyes. A sentient wisp of vapor on a remote star in outer space asks his elders what it would be like to visit Earth. Their response details the path of a human life, vast in scope yet intimate in detail. The book’s suggestion that all humans are born as avatars of these heavenly visitors, and that we return to our sidereal state after our time here is at an end, can be read as a spiritual statement on the afterlife and the cycle of reincarnation, a literary metaphor for the scientific observation that we are all made of atoms forged in ancient stars, or perhaps both at once. Through the magic realism of her scenario and the richness of her color palette, Nivola explores the latitude and longitude of our journey through life as we transition from childhood to maturity to old age and reach outward to form true connections along the way. #starchild #star #child #earth #space #outerspace #life #death #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks