The Holographic Night Sky Book and Kit

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

If your young reader can’t tell the Big Dipper from the Big Bopper,
then you need this nifty little kit that includes four sky charts (one
for each season), a “Night Sky Navigator” instruction book, a
red-filter flashlight, a 32-page pocket-sized “Night Sky Observer’s
Handbook,” and eight stick-on holograms featuring famous figures of
from Greek mythology.

No telescope or binoculars are needed to enjoy this kit—all the
planets and constellations it profiles can be viewed with the naked eye
from any outdoor site that is reasonably free of street lamps and other
“light” polluters. The instruction book explains how in ancient
times people used to make sense of the starlit universe by clumping
stars together into constellations and assigning humanlike qualities to
those star bodies. As readers progress through the text, they are
encouraged to insert the stick-on holograms into designated spaces. When
turned back and forth, the holograms transform from the actual star
constellations into mythical figures.

For outside enjoyment, readers are given a small journal that fits
easily into a back pocket. The text is loaded with tasty little trivia
tidbits, like the fact that the tiny star Mizar was used by the
Egyptians as a way of testing eyesight for military recruits. The small,
red-filter flashlight that is provided allows stargazers to consult
their sky charts without ruining their night vision. The kit is suitable
for individual or group enjoyment. Highly recommended.