As the title suggests, Up in the Blue Sky: Journey from the Earth’s Surface to Outer Space by Gianumberto Accinelli, illustrated by Guilian Zaffaroni, shows a progression meter by meter of the things that travel to various levels in the atmosphere, beginning with ants close to the ground, moving up toward Olympic pole jumpers, and then upwards into the other layers of the atmosphere. Although most pages have too much text for a read-aloud with many children, the illustrations provide plenty to discuss. A teacher can read the brief introduction to each layer of the atmosphere and then point out the interesting things that reach that layer during the journey from ground to space.
I learned from this longer picture book. Each layer of the atmosphere gets a page dedicated to explaining the layer. For example, the page for Troposphere names the layer, shows how far it extends, provides three sentences about it, and then provides a longer explanatory paragraph. Then, the subsequent pages show some unexpected things that have traveled high into the layer of the atmosphere. It shows that grasshoppers have flown as high as 45 meters into the sky, as well as numerous other animals and especially birds. Most pages have a detailed paragraph or two about the creature or item that has traveled that high.
It is a fantastic look at the progression from earth to space. In some respects I only wish it were a bit shorter in order to be a nicely illustrated book about the atmosphere that reads like a story. It is too long and informational to be called a story.
