Cosmic Cat

Cosmic Cat, from artist and astronomer Joe Bergeron, takes you and your favorite youngster on a fanciful flight of fact-based fascination into the night sky. But don't think textbook or reference volume. This is an instant-classic picture book. It surrounds you with delicious visuals while slipping you some science in the most tasty ways.

It's a book you should buy. Right now. It's visual beauty captivates. You'll want to share it with some very young person very soon, even if you don't know precisely who just yet. And the e-book version works like a storybook on steroids; deep and rich multimedia trips that will lure kids back - and you too - learning as they grow.

Cosmic Cat is the story of a lonely displaced girl who finds solace in the Solar System and far beyond. Anyone who's ever felt the reverse gravity tug of the night sky will get it in a nanosecond. So deeply gorgeous are Joe's colorful skies, that star-challenged city dwellers may even get their first taste of that celestial potion through this book. And, trust me, amateur astronomy is far and away this planet's most healthy and rewarding obsession.

Author and illustrator Bergeron is an international treasure; an exquisite blend of illustrator and explainer. He might best be called an "illuminator." Experiencing his book (reading is too limited a word for this) is like hearing campfire stories while sitting with your loved ones around a flame the size of the Sun.

Young readers will want to return, again and again, to spend time slowly wandering through each of Joe's rich and intricate paintings. The opposite of a burning "page-turner," Cosmic Cat is a journey you'll want to slow down and spend time taking.

And, as they grow, hungry minds will wrap repeatedly around Joe's many multimedia side-trips. Launching and sailing aboard each of these with my iPad, I felt as if I had booked passage on one of those expensive luxury eco-tourism astronomy excursions (think: total eclipse cruise) with a particularly gifted guest lecturer and nature interpreter. Every one of these jaunts leads down a fascinating alley of information. This e-book is a never-ending Easter egg hunt

Cosmic Cat falls slightly short in only one significant aspect: it's storyline is perhaps not the strongest. Early on, the narrative plants several fascinating and mysterious seeds that will get readers' speculation engines revved up wondering where in the Universe they might lead. But the story doesn't quite tank-up enough rocket fuel to pull these threads together. You may be left with a tantalizing feeling that Cosmic Cat's twitching tale never really pays-off.

The art, however, is so flat out beautiful and the multimedia journeys so informative that readers, be they sprouts or elders, will be quite satisfied. At $9.99 for the rich media version, Cosmic Cat is an excellent value. I'm buying copies for all the electronic tablet-obsessed young children of parents in my social circles. I bet you will too.

A person who has always wondered about astronomy will find this a good introduction. The story of the little girl and the cat is a fine way to understand something about the cosmos. The artwork is exceptionally well done and imaginative. This book allows you to see through a telescope without leaving your living room chair. Anyone with even a little curiosity about the universe will find this a good start to their journey. I plan to show this to everyone I know who has never had the opportunity to see the grandeur of the universe.