The Artists on Planets series introduces young readers to the wonders of art and planetary science. Amazing illustrations accompanied by delightful poetry tell wondrous tales and teach fascinating facts about our Solar System's beautiful planets.
The first books in the series take place on the fourth planet in our Solar System, the Red Planet we call Mars. The lavish illustrations show us Mars in a way we have never seen it before: through the eyes and paintings in the style of famous artists, such as the post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh and the Romantic landscape painter J. M. W. Turner.
The initial books in the Artists on Planets series—Vincent on Mars and William on Mars—share with us the sublime beauty of Mars as if these brilliant artists of the 19th century were alive in the 21st century to paint Mars' amazing sights. We get to see incredible paintings of a blue sunset over Flammarion Crater, a dust storm on Utopia Planitia, the awe-inspiring grandeur of Valles Marineris (the largest canyon in the Solar System!), the ice-filled Kolorev Crater, the frozen dunes of Olympia Undae, and the austere beauty of Mars' North Pole, and more. We also are treated to imaginative paintings in the styles of Vincent van Gogh and William Turner of what Mars might have looked like when it had oceans, lakes, rivers, and possibly plant life four billion years ago.
In each story, the artist at first does not realize they are on Mars and carefully observes this new alien landscape, noticing its different colors and shapes, or gravity and natural satellites, and paints what they see as they explore their new surroundings. Each Artists on Planets book is a journey of artistic and scientific discovery filled with wonder, beauty, awe, the joy of learning, and the power of making art as a way of understanding a new world.
Each picture book in the Artists on Planets series has a companion volume: an Illustrated Glossary of new vocabulary words, people, and places mentioned in the story. Each Illustrated Glossary features beautifully crafted entries with word definitions, word origins, example sentences, and illustrations to help younger readers learn about the language, science, and art of the related picture book. The etymologies enrich younger readers’ understanding of the ancient roots of the words we use today. The example sentences, usually in the form of questions, inspire dialogue and contextual learning. To help young readers see what the various extraterrestrial features painted in the picture books actually look like in real life each Illustrated Glossary includes gorgeous color photographs from various missions to the planets as well as photographs of relevant places and things here on Earth.
The books in the Artists on Planets series are available in large 8.5 inch by 8.5 inch square format Paperback Editions printed in Amazon Premium Color, and as Kindle eBooks. It's worth getting both versions. The Kindle Editions offer experiences not possible in the Paperback Editions. The Kindle Editions of the picture books feature gorgeous, uncropped, wide-format versions of the paintings in each book that present 75% more of the panoramic paintings than appear in the Paperback Editions. The Kindle Editions of each Illustrated Glossary include hyperlinks to Simple Wiktionary (a free, online dictionary) and to Simple Wikipedia (a free, online encyclopedia), so you can learn even more about the entries and broaden and deepen your exploration of these new words that create new worlds.
The Artists on Planets series will amaze, delight, and educate children, parents, and teachers alike. The journey awaits!