"The history of the world is in your fingertips," a father poetically tells his child in astrophysicist and dean of Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences Ray Jayawardhana's debut. Child of the Universe is a stunning picture book journey through the vast and the infinitesimal corners of the universe, radiantly illustrated by Raul Colón (Imagine!).
The father calls his child part "of starbursts brighter than fireworks," musing that the elements in her body come from long-ago stars. As the brown, curly-haired child flies through his imagination, he lovingly tells her of her connection to the cosmos, his wonder at her precious existence evident in every word. Colón's breathtaking colored-pencil drawings bring to life swirling galaxies, giant atoms and fiery stars in a rainbow of gradient hues. This love letter to the universe's interconnected grandeur and affirmation of a child's place as the center of her parent's world is perfect for bedtime rituals. --Jaclyn Fulwood, youth services manager at Main Branch, Dayton Metro Library