March 13 – International Dark Sky Week

About the Holiday

International Dark Sky Week (IDSW) was founded in 2003 by high school student Jennifer Barlow, who wanted to raise awareness about the problems caused by light pollution and invite people to make beneficial changes. The initiative is now managed by DarkSky International, an association founded in the 1980s by astronomers with the hopes of restoring the nighttime environment from the damage created by the excessive use of light. To learn more about DarkSky International and how you can help, visit them at idsw.darksky.org. Make sure to check out their Activity Page for kids crafts, activity pages, virtual nighttime and NASA tours, and ways that you and your family can get involved in citizen-science projects, and more!

Thanks to Eerdmans Books for Young Readers for sending me this book for review!

Who Hid the Stars?: How Light Pollution Changes Our World

Written by Danio Miserocchi and Maciej Michno | Illustrated by Valentina Gottardi | Translated by Sylvia Notini

Through their informative text, translated from Italian, Danio Miserocchi and Maciej Michno take readers on nighttime walks to see for themselves the types of artificial light that, while beneficial to humans are detrimental to many creatures. They begin with a short history of artificial light and define light pollution while Valentina Gottardi illustrates how outdoor light fixtures can be shielded for least-polluting effect.

In their chapter on birds, Miserocchi and Michno discuss how artificial light creates unnatural and even dangerous conditions for diurnal birds, who sleep at night; nocturnal birds, who need darkness to hunt; and night-flying migratory birds, who can get lost or confused by lights along their routes. Gottardi’s map showing the world lit up at night will fascinate readers while demonstrating how pervasive, bright, and intrusive artificial light is for migrating birds. The authors also reveal how some birds have learned to use artificial lighting to their advantage.

A chapter on insects clearly explains how artificial light not only attracts nocturnal insects but how it confuses their natural flight patterns and why we see moths swarming around streetlights, porch lights, and other outdoor fixtures. An interesting spread on fireflies goes in depth on how and why they light up, their blinking communication codes, and all the ways artificial disturbs them. Children also learn how light affects bats, small mammals, amphibians, spiders, and even underwater creatures.

It might surprise you that artificial light can even alter the growth and seasonal shifts of trees and plants. From plants’ blooming schedules to pollinator visits to vulnerability to disease and even to the impact on allergies, extended light exposure creates issues that affect us all. In closing, Miserocchi and Michno invite readers to look up at the nighttime sky and contemplate how many stars you can see. They then encourage us to take steps—even small steps—to reducing light pollution around our homes and neighborhoods.

Back matter includes a glossary, simple ideas anyone can do to reduce light pollution, and resources for learning more.

Danio Miserocchi’s and Maciej Michno’s straightforward text is as engaging as it is informative. Not only do readers discover the harmful effects of artificial light pollution in general, but they learn about specific species of insects, birds, and other creatures and the various ways their habits and habitats—altered by light pollution—begin chain reactions with wide-ranging adverse results.

Valentina Gottardi’s luminescent mixed media illustrations transport readers to nighttime landscapes, where her beautiful, nearly photographic images of a wide array of birds, moths and fireflies, bats, geckos and toads, fish and sea turtles will captivate nature lovers. Between chapters, Gottardi’s two-page spreads beckon readers to explore a darkened park dotted with glowing lamps, a city courtyard where street lights and apartment windows glow, and a glitzy boulevard, where the neon glare never sleeps.

Eye-opening science wrapped in nature’s nighttime beauty, Who Hid the Stars?: How Light Pollution Changes Our World is an impactful addition for classrooms, school and public library collections, and for all children interested in the environment and nature.

Ages 8 – 14

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2026 | ISBN 978-0802856517

About the Authors

Danio Miserocchi is a coauthor of The Tomorrow Tree (Phaidon) and Who Hid the Stars? (Eerdmans). He is an Italian naturalist and teacher who works with museums and community organizations on conservation and biodiversity initiatives. Follow her on Instagram @daniomiserocchi.

Maciej Michno is an editor at Cocai Books, which creates educational, scientifically verified books focused on often-overlooked natural subjects. His titles include Who Hid the Stars? (Eerdmans) and The Tomorrow Tree (Phaidon).

About the Illustrator

Valentina Gottardi has pursued her dual passions of art and nature since childhood. At Cocai Books, she serves as artistic director and designer for all projects, including Who Hid the Stars? (Eerdmans), and The Tomorrow Tree (Phaidon). Visit her here.

About the Translator

Sylvia Notini has translated over 200 titles from Italian into English, including Who Hid the Stars? (Eerdmans) and Sea Wonders (Princeton Architectural). Her translation of Just a Girl (HarperCollins) won the 2023 Mildred L. Batchelder Award, and her translation of Chickenology (Princeton Architectural) was a finalist for the AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books. Sylvia lives in Castenaso, just outside of Bologna, Italy. Visit her at sylvianotini.com.

International Dark Sky Week Activity

Look deep into the naturally dark night sky over Bryce Canyon National Park as Astronomy Ranger Kelly Ricks talks about the stars, the Milky Way, and the excitement of children seeing it all for the first time!

You can purchase Who Hid the Stars? from these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

Picture Book Review

March 27 – Earth Hour

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

Earth Hour was organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature as a way to engage people in the discussion on climate change. First enacted in Australia in 2007, the observance has grown to include cities, businesses, corporations, and individuals world wide. For one hour – from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. local time – participants will turn off all unnecessary lights in a show of solidarity and commitment to protecting our earth. Among the places going dark this year are the Empire State Building, the Space Needle, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Colosseum in Rome, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Sydney Opera House, and the Eiffel Tower. One action you can take is as easy as turning off a light – as today’s book shows. To read more about the holiday, find virtual events taking place around the world, and learn how you can participate, visit earthhour.org.

Lights Out

Written by Marsha Diane Arnold | Illustrated by Susan Reagan

A little fox peeks out of her den. It’s night, but her surroundings are lit up as if it were noon. A Beetle hovers nearby taking in all the “House lights / Car lights / Truck lights / Street lights… / Blinking lights / Flashing lights / Blazing lights / Flickering lights.” There are lights in every color and on every structure. Fox and Beetle wonder where Darkness is—the dark of Night that invites coyotes to sing, owls to hunt, foxes to hunt, and beetles to become “more than beetles.” Perhaps, they think, Night is lost.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Lights-Out-city

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Fox and Beetle set out to find Night. They pass a wetlands, where Frog waits in vain for darkness to lend his voice to the nighttime chorus. “Across the wide, wide world, / they search… / for the Dark of Night. / But everywhere – Lights!” Up on the mountain, Bear is waiting for the signal to hibernate, but the brightness keeps him awake. Frog and Bear join in the search for Night.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Lights-Out-wandering

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Fox and Beetle travel through forests and fields, over deserts and dunes, and across wide prairies, but don’t find Night. When they come to the seashore, they witness baby turtles hatching. Instead of scuttling toward the ocean, they’re running toward the lights of the boardwalk shops. Frog stops the little turtles then Bear, Fox, and Frog wade out into the waves and shows them the way.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Lights-Out-turtles

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

The three friends swim “away from shore and lights” while Beetle and Songbird fly above. Out here, where the sky is dark, Beetle at last sparks and glows. At last the friends reach a far-away island that’s cloaked in darkness. Here “they can see…Everything…. / Mushrooms glowing / Fireflies / Moonlit garden / Shining eyes / Nighttime weavers / Webs of stars / Constellations / Venus, Mars….” Here, they find Night.

An Author’s Note discussing light pollution and its effect on animals and humans and including a resource where readers can learn more about light pollution and what we can do to help precedes the story.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Lights-Out-moon

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Marsha Diane Arnold’s affecting story about how light pollution changes animal behavior and confuses the natural order of life is a poignant appeal to today’s young environmentally conscious kids, sparking an awareness of the extent of the problem while inviting them to consider ways to restore the darkness of night so important to the health of our planet. Through non-rhyming, yet lyrical language, Arnold takes readers on a journey to find Night. As the friends search place after place, children come to understand that light pollution is a worldwide issue.

Arnold’s capitalization of Night and Darkness makes them characters in the story as well, imbued with living traits and purpose that are just as crucial to wildlife as food and shelter. In one powerful combination of text and illustration, a list of light sources streams from corner to corner in a beam of white light. The number of examples builds to create a glaring realization of all the types of lights that keep the world turned on twenty-four hours a day. After reading Lights Out, children and adults will find themselves paying attention to the lights around them and even in and near their own home.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Lights-Out-lights-on

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Susan Reagan’s stunning illustrations of cities, waterways, and even out-of-the-way places bathed in a permanent twilight by street lamps, headlights, lighted windows, neon signs, and more are compelling reminders of just how pervasive light pollution is. As the animals wander from place to place looking for Night, their weary and distressed expressions reflect the loss of their natural nocturnal activities. When Beetle and Fox and their friends reach the distant island, Reagan’s gorgeous spreads of a star-and-moonlit sky and vegetation, in which nocturnal animals hunt, luminescent flowers glow, and spider webs glint will have readers taking a nighttime jaunt to discover what they can see in their surroundings.

A unique and important book that raises awareness not only about light pollution but about natural cycles of sleep and wakefulness, Lights Out would be an excellent addition to lessons in science and the environment and is highly recommended for home, school, and public library collections.

Ages 6 – 8

Creative Editions, 2020 | ISBN 978-1568463407

Discover more about Marsha Diane Arnold and her books on her website.

To learn more about Susan Reagan, her books, and her art, visit her website.

Earth Hour Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-Lights-Out-activity

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Lights Out Activity Kit

This extensive Activity Kit gives teachers, homeschoolers, and parents many ways to engage with Lights Out in the disciplines of science, language arts, art, and social action. Through the various activities, children will learn about light pollution and its effects as well as about the ways in which darkness benefits wildlife. You can download the kit from Marsha Diane Arnold’s website:

Lights Out Activity Kit

You can find Lights Out at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

To support your local independent bookstore, order from

Bookshop | IndieBound

Picture Book Review

September 4 – National Wildlife Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

National Wildlife Day was established in 2005 by author and pet lifestyle expert Colleen Paige to promote awareness of the importance of conservation of animals, habitats, and the environment worldwide as well as to acknowledge the education and conservation work of zoos and animal sanctuaries. To honor the memory and birthday of Steve Irwin, National Wildlife Day is also celebrated on February 2. To celebrate today’s holiday, take time to learn about what you can do to help protect the environment. One action might be as easy as turning off a light – as today’s book shows.

Lights Out

Written by Marsha Diane Arnold | Illustrated by Susan Reagan

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Ages 6 – 8

Creative Editions, 2020 | ISBN 978-1568463407

Discover more about Marsha Diane Arnold and her books on her website.

To learn more about Susan Reagan, her books, and her art, visit her website.

National Wildlife Day Activity

Image copyright Susan Reagan, 2020, text copyright Marsha Diane Arnold, 2020. Courtesy of Creative Editions.

Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Who Hid the Stars?: How Light Pollution Changes Our World

Written by Danio Miserocchi and Maciej Michno | Illustrated by Valentina Gottardi | Translated by Sylvia Notini

International Dark Sky Week Activity

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About the Holiday

Lights Out

Written by Marsha Diane Arnold | Illustrated by Susan Reagan

Earth Hour Activity

Lights Out Activity Kit

You can find Lights Out at these booksellers

To support your local independent bookstore, order from

Share this:

About the Holiday

Lights Out

Written by Marsha Diane Arnold | Illustrated by Susan Reagan

National Wildlife Day Activity

Lights Out Activity Kit

You can find Lights Out at these booksellers

To support your local independent bookstore, order from

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