First UNAWE Programme in the United States: Discovering My Universe

“Discovering My Universe” is a Riverside County Library System program for a network comprised of 33 library branches and museum located in southern California. The program is designed to provide outreach to the immediate community of three million in the county area, over 40% of which are Hispanic, and to the broader community in southern California and beyond. 
The program introduces young children to their universe via a series of monthly library based pre-school and primary grade bi-lingual storytimes and related crafts during the International Year of Astronomy 2009 along with celebrating a special day of astronomy on or near October 24, 2009, in conjunction with the Astronomical League Fall IYA2009 activities. In subsequent years, the project will coordinate special library based storytimes on or near International Astronomy Day. 
The project will also add free downloadable Astronomy related storytime reading selections and craft templates on the Riverside County Library System website for educators or the general public to access, along with increasing the number of links to children friendly Astronomy sites on the Riverside County Library System Web site.
For more information, see: http://bit.ly/FaDhU

Children’s Moon book launch becomes IYA2009 public outreach tour

July 2009 brought many tributes and events celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. This month was also chosen for children’s astronomy author, Bob Crelin of Guilford, CT, to release his new book, Faces of the Moon (Charlesbridge), and his new invention, the Moon Gazers’ Wheel.
With a busy July/August schedule of bookstore and museum appearances, Bob brought along a handful of telescopes (with operators) to each author event.  The goal was to offer the public a chance to view the Moon through a telescope.  As a result, many children and adults looked through a telescope for their first time.  The Moon they viewed was either the actual Moon in the sky, if available, or a high-resolution photo of the Moon mounted on a black background, which was hung up high at a distance.  Viewers became equally excited when viewing either one!
Bob’s author events for Faces of the Moon were very successful and well attended.  His appearances included the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Washington, DC as part of the Apollo 11 weekend celebration.   Hundreds of museum attendees looked through the telescope that day – and subsequently bought up all the copies of the book that were available.  The excitement generated for the Moon, and for telescopes at these events was clear, and it was brought home by the young, and old.
Bob Crelin is also the author of the children’s book, There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars, an educational outreach resource used by the IYA2009 Dark Skies Working Group, of which he is an active member.
Thursday, 9/24 Faces of the Moon will be featured on the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. There’s also a great TV discussion of the book from Better Connecticut, available at the WFSB-TV website.
For more information about Bob Crelin, Faces of the Moon, and the Moon Gazers’ Wheel, head to http://BobCrelin.com and http://Charlesbridge.com