Meteor! facts for kids
Meteor! is a fun children's picture book written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. She is famous for creating stories about her own childhood in Michigan. Meteor! was published in 1987 by The Trumpet Club, a company known for publishing books for young readers. The story is about Patricia, her brother Richard, and their cousin Steve. They are young children spending a summer with their grandparents on their farm in Michigan. It seems like a normal summer night until something amazing happens: a bright flash in the sky and a loud crash in the yard!
Publishers Weekly said that this book is "enchanting." They mentioned how it "overwhelmingly expresses the magic that suddenly pervades a small town." They also liked the "funny folksy way the story is told" and the "imaginative, full color illustrations."
Booklist also praised the book, saying that Polacco’s "full-color pictures are completely in tandem with the telling." This means the pictures and the story work perfectly together.
The Story of Meteor!
The book tells the exciting story of Patricia, her brother Richard, and their cousin Steve. They are spending their summer vacation at their grandparents' farm in Union City, Michigan. One late night, while they are cozy inside their home, a very bright light suddenly falls from the sky. It lands right in the Gaw family's farm with a huge, loud crash!
The family is very curious, so they bravely go outside to see what happened. To their surprise, they find a fallen star, also known as a meteor, right in their backyard! A line in the book shows how big a deal this was: “Of all the places on earth a meteor could have fallen, it landed smack-dab in the middle of our yard, Gramma exclaimed.”
This was a massive event for everyone living in Mudsock Meadow. News travels very quickly, and soon, the Gaw farm turns into a big party! There is a band playing music, a circus, a hot air balloon, and many other fun things. The entire town gathers to celebrate the amazing meteor. Many people even touched the meteor, believing it had magical powers. It truly felt like magic to everyone that this fallen star, which had traveled through space, landed right in Union City and brought so much happiness to all.
Where Did the Idea Come From?
Patricia Polacco's stories are often based on real events from her own life. She gets her ideas from everything she has experienced. Her books are also inspired by stories passed down through her family. She learned many tales from her relatives, and she uses these as inspiration for her books. The stories in her books also come from the cultural traditions of both sides of her family. For example, Meteor! was written because of a special event her mom experienced. It happened when her mom was a young girl on her own grandparents' farm in Michigan.
