An excellent book about eclipses of the Sun and Moon. Fascinating stuff! I picked up on information that I didn't really know before, and that's coming from an adult. I always feel like anyone can learn something from children's books. This one is a good resource. Your kids will like it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley, but was not required to leave a positive review.

The best part of this book was the photography. Lots of cool photos and I enjoyed the layout. The information was introductory and targeted for younger children.

This simple and approachable introduction to eclipses can help kids understand the phenomena and how to safely view them. I wish some passages were written slightly clearer, but the book does a good job of covering important aspects briefly and engagingly.

From time in memoriam, the fascination and fear associated with solar and lunar eclipses—that could either cast the Earth in total darkness during daylight hours or paint the moon in bloody red hues during the night—have always intrigued humankind. These mysterious occurrences are fully explored and explained in Bruce Betts’, gloriously photographed short book for children of all ages, “Casting Shadows: Solar and Lunar Eclipses With the Planetary Society.”

“Casting Shadows” notes that the word, syzygy, refers to three bodies in space that are in a straight line, and in an eclipse the Earth, Moon, and the Sun must be in alignment with each other to cast a shadow on one or the other. The little book is chock-full of detailed data, including: historical astronomical observations; explanations for each type of eclipse; occurrences for each type of eclipse; safe and proper viewing methods for solar eclipses; moon phases; and much more.

This is a comprehensive and succinct reference guide regarding eclipses, although short, it is profoundly educational and professionally written and attributed to the Planetary Society of America that has members in the tens of thousands and whose current president is Bill Nye—The Science Guy. I highly recommend “Casting Shadows” for every home library.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Bill Betts, and Publisher Lerner Books for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.

Casting Shadows was an interesting read. I feel that it is aimed towards higher elementary/middle school aged kids. While it has a lot of information in it I think a younger elementary child would get confused or frustrated. It felt like it jumped around a lot with lots of quick facts. Something I noticed is that it did not break down a harder words, i.e. "syzygy". We had to type it into the computer to hear how it was pronounced. The book did give a description of syzygy right after the word though, so that was nice.
Overall, I felt like Casting Shadows was a quick fact book. It did have some nice pictures to go along with each section to help see what you were reading about. I felt a little rushed with each section though (that is why I describe it as a "fact" book).
Thank you Lerner Publications and Bruce Betts, PhD for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.