Cosmic Wonder: Halley’s Comet and Humankind

Beginning millennia ago and ending with a mention of 2061, Benham-Yazdani follows Earth and its denizens via the perspective of a returning Halley’s Comet. Personifying third-person prose traces the comet’s recurring visits to the planet, which occur “about every seventy-six Earth years”; over the course of its many fly-bys, it observes that “one kind of creature began to live differently.” Images show humans of various backgrounds and skin tones changing over time—first looking up from brush, then leaving behind painted handprints on a rock face, developing settlements, engaging in times of war and peace, performing in a roofless theater, and then, in 1986, peering up from a beach that flanks a neon-lighted, polluted city. Mixed-media landscapes picture the bright, soft-edged comet shooting across an inky wash sky throughout this thought-provoking survey of human history that considers constant change leading up to “the future you help to create.” Extensive back matter includes an author’s note. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)