My 5 year old son who isn't classified as gifted and doesn't appear to be too far advanced is REALLY into astronomy. He got some adult books from the library and he totes them everywhere and has me read from his favorite pages. Does anyone know of a really really scaled down astronomy book for younger kids? He's just starting to read so I don't expect him to be able to read it on his own but I just think some of the stuff in the adult books is beyond him.

I'm really excited though! Astronomy is something that I've always been interested in but as a mom, I tend to put my own interests on the back burner. Now that we share an interest, I have a good excuse to get obsessed too

http://www.amazon.com/Basher-Astron...mp;s=books&qid=1297005342&sr=8-1

Actually the entire series is great. Good balance between kid-friendly and having advanced info.

JB

He might like The Stars, by H.A. Rey (yes, the same H.A.Rey who wrote Curious George).

http://www.amazon.com/Stars-H-Rey/dp/0547132808

I second this one. DS6 got it for Christmas and really loves it. He also has 3 other books in the series that he loves as well.

Also have this one which is pretty cool too.
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Sky-Atlas-DK-Publishing/dp/0756628393

3rd this! We love this series. I've done a number of them as read alouds for my homeschooled 1st and 4th grader. They lead to other investigation with my older (and if nothing else, he thinks they're clever) and give my younger lots to think about. Nice balance of kid friendly fun with real terminology and info. This series got us very interested in Schrodinger's cat!

Brainwaves

DS5 is obsessed with space and crazy knowledgeable about it, is very interested in cosmic rays and particles - his alter egos super fur protects from them! We have all the books by the brainwaves, DS always goes back to them especially space and the human body, lots of knowledge but super hilarious pictures. Just chock full of stuff to look at.

DeHe

Excellent, thanks everyone!! Such wonderful options! Our local library sucks so I'll be purchasing these books online. Plus with 5 kids, I'm sure they'll get plenty of use!

We love the Simon Basher series too! I think we discovered the Periodic Table book first here (still DS7's favorite), but now this series has become his favorite for his required school reading. He's fond of the Rocks and Minerals book now.

OP - I don't think you can go wrong with any of the Basher books.

DS6 likes the periodic table one too...now he has this one that he loves and looks at all the time. I highly recommend it and it is on sale now
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Visu...mp;ie=UTF8&qid=1297261178&sr=1-7

He has the astronomy and physics one too and just ordered the chemistry one. he wants the biology one but I read a review about how it describes the whole 'how babies are made' so not so sure about that yet. He has read human bocy books that touch on it and know about sperm and eggs..but amazingly hasn't thought through it more or asked questions yet about exactly how the sperm and egg get together, lol. Not sure if we are ready for that at 6. Maybe 7.

You might try "The Kids' Book of the Night Sky" by Love, Drake and Collins. That one has been quite popular here at various points with two of mine. There's a preview at Google books (which I can't seem to link since I am hopelessly lame at such things).

Maybe Couper & Henbest's "How the Universe Works"? It has lots of fun experiments--it's out of print, but lots of used copies floating around (on abebooks, for instance)--it's either DK or Readers' Digest, depending if you get the UK or US edition. My youngest likes this one quite a bit.

peace
minnie