Icarus at the Edge of Time (edit title)

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Liked It Rated 5 stars “This is a very cool mix of mythology, science fiction, and science, all in a board book for children. It's the story of Icarus, who doesn't fly too close to the sun in this version, but rather the edge of a black hole. He is a member of the Proxima's crew, and the families on this ship have...” see full review » see other reviews »

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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Icarus is the classic story of the boy who flew too high for his own good. The twist here is that the titular hero lives in the future, grew up on a space ship, and flies into a black hole rather than the sun. Icarus is also a rather large board book, illustrated with beautiful images taken by the Hubble space telescope.
  
  POSITIVE: Icarus offers an interesting blend of classical mythology and modern science. It's a great introduction to black holes and the relativity of time. Finally, the stunning images can only feed a young mind's interest in science.
  
  NEGATIVE: I don't know what Icarus was trying to be. Board books are normally associated with younger children, but the diction seems too advanced. I'm all for books that challenge kids, but I think that this would only serve to frustrate. The book is also far too large to be comfortably read to a young audience that wants to see the pictures too. If, on the other hand, Icarus was intended for a slightly older set, I think that kids would find the story too simplistic.
  
  Another major flaw was the choice in representation of the black hole. This is shown as a black dot (literally a 'black hole' in the middle of the page) that progressively takes over the entire page and then shrinks back down. I can understand an appreciate that this is supposed to allow the reader to "approach" the black hole as Icarus does, but it's just plain black and it obscures the beautiful background images (almost completely for several of the middle pages). It's both distracting and frustrating.
  
  The greatest flaw this book has is its apparent lack of direction. Perhaps the author wanted it to be too many things at once. Who can blame him? The niche for storybooks that also teach science is severely under-filled - but one book alone cannot hope to fill all of it. The result is literary schizophrenia.
  
  This, coupled with the unfortunate design choice, makes this book somewhat of a disappointment. It's still worth getting, though, if only because of how sparse the genre is.”

  MrPopularSentiment wrote this review Sunday, April 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 5 stars

  “This is a very cool mix of mythology, science fiction, and science, all in a board book for children. It's the story of Icarus, who doesn't fly too close to the sun in this version, but rather the edge of a black hole. He is a member of the Proxima's crew, and the families on this ship have left Earth to find other life in the galaxy, knowing that generations will be born and die on their ship before they reach their destination. Icarus is a few generations in and wants to be something more than a "link in a chain," so he ventures out into space and circles the edge of black hole, only to suffer an unusual fate.
  
  This book uses pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope as a backdrop to a fairly short story. A scientific explanation and theories finish up the story. The book is a little misleading - I tend to think of board books as for very young children, but I think the story will appeal more to mid- and upper elementary school kids.”

  Bonnie S wrote this review Tuesday, January 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 5 stars

  “This is a wonderful story for adults and children. A very short story of a boy on a trip through space that he was not yet born to see launch and will never live to see end. I love how the book uses the analogy of him being a link in the middle of the chain. The pictures in the book are actual pictures of space and at the back of the book it tells you what each Nebula or galaxy's name is along with some extra info. The book also uses real theory as to how space/ time works. If you have ten minutes, you have time to read this book.”

  Dead Dan wrote this review Friday, January 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No

  
  
  • Rated 5 stars

  “Modern day tale of Icarus and his father. Loved the book! Oversize boardbook using photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope. ”

  Linda B wrote this review Tuesday, September 30 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No