When I read the title of the book You Are Stardust by Elin Kelsey, I can’t help but sing

We are stardust.
We are golden.
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

This is not a book about Joni Mitchell’s song “Woodstock“, but an excellent children’s book about human development and the interconnectivity of all things.

Every tiny atom in your body

came from a star that exploded

long before you were born.

You started life as a single cell.

So did all other creatures on planet Earth.

I absolutely love this book!  Some of the concepts may be a bit above little children, but it is the kind of book that can be read over and over again as children grow answering many important questions about life.

You Are Stardust begins by introducing the idea that every tiny atom in our bodies came from a star that exploded long before we were born. From its opening pages, the book suggests that we are intimately connected to the natural world; it compares the way we learn to speak to the way baby birds learn to sing, and the growth of human bodies to the growth of forests. Award-winning author Elin Kelsey — along with a number of concerned parents and educators around the world — believes children are losing touch with nature. This innovative picture book aims to reintroduce children to their innate relationship with the world around them by sharing many of the surprising ways that we are all connected to the natural world.

Grounded in current science, this extraordinary picture book provides opportunities for children to use their imaginations and wonder about some big ideas. Soyeon Kim’s incredible diorama art enhances the poetic text, and her creative process is explored in full on the reverse side of the book’s jacket, which features comments from the artist. Young readers will want to pore over each page of this book, exploring the detailed artwork and pondering the message of the text, excited to find out just how connected to the Earth they really are.

The illustrations by Soyeon Kim are very unique. They are a perfect blend of collage that would be fun to replicate in an art project.

We are sent many children’s books to review, and there are very few that excite me like You Are Stardust.  I highly recommend this book!

disclosure: The products described above were sent to us as free samples. Prior assurances as to the nature of the reviews, whether positive or negative, were not given. No financial payments were accepted in exchange for the reviews. The reviews reflect our honest, authentic opinions.