Cosmic Wonder: Halley's Comet and Humankind by Ashley Benham Yazdani
Published by Candlewick Press ISBN: 1536223239
Genres: Cultural / African American
Format: Picture Book Nonfiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

First recorded traveling overhead in 240 BCE, Halley’s Comet returns every seventy-six years. In this book, Halley’s Comet is depicted as an anthropomorphized shining orb with a long, flowing tail, with the landscapes that change over the years.  From C. 200,000 years ago to 13th-century Mongol warriors charging down a hill (1222) until two children (one dark-skinned, one light-skinned) watch from a beach beneath an industrial city in 1986, when the comet was barely visible in the smoke-filled sky. She asks what will the Earth be like in 2061 when Halley’s Comet next returns? The illustrations are lovely with the comet lighting the landscapes through the years. However, the reader may be disappointed that the book is less about the comet and more about humankind. Author and illustrator Benham-Yazdani does explain who Edmond Halley was and the back pages explain comets along with an Author’s Note and Bibliography. Ages 7-10.

Barb Rehmeyer, Liberty Library