What the Scholastic Encyclopedia Of Space Actually Is
The Scholastic Encyclopedia Of Space is a children's reference book series published by Scholastic that covers astronomy and space science for elementary through middle school readers. It was released in a couple of editions, with the most well-known being the 1997 original edition and a later updated version. The books use full-color photographs, diagrams, and simplified explanations to walk kids through topics like the solar system, stars, galaxies, space exploration, and the physics behind how things move in space. I've seen a lot of parents and teachers buy these hoping they'll be a one-stop reference, and that's partly fair. They work well for casual browsing and for kids who are just getting into the subject. The photographs are high quality, the layout is clean, and the reading level is genuinely appropriate for the target age group. But they're not a deep reference. If a kid asks a question that goes beyond what's on the page, these books won't have the answer. That's the main thing to keep in mind before you spend money on them.
Getting a Copy of the Scholastic Encyclopedia Of Space
The books are out of print now, so you won't find them at Scholastic's website or in new copies at big bookstores. Your options are used copies on Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks, ThriftBooks, and similar marketplaces. The 1997 edition tends to run somewhere between $8 and $25 depending on condition. The updated editions are usually more expensive because they're rarer. I'd recommend checking Goodreads for which edition has the most complete coverage before you pull the trigger, since the updates between editions aren't always consistent in quality. Library copies exist too. Most public libraries have at least one volume in their children's or juvenile nonfiction section. If you're just trying to see whether your kid will actually engage with it, borrowing first is the safer move. These books look great on a shelf but some kids flip through them once and never touch them again.
How to Use It Without Wasting Your Time
The way these books are organized matters more than most people realize. Each volume is broken into chapters that cover specific topics, but the chapters don't flow chronologically or thematically in a way that supports linear reading. You pick up the book, you read a chapter, you put it down. That's fine for what it is. But if your kid is working on a school project, flipping through randomly is going to frustrate both of you. The table of contents and index are actually the most useful parts. I learned this the hard way when my kid had a science fair project on the outer planets and I told her to just "read the book." She spent two hours going through chapters that mostly covered the inner solar system and general space facts. The index had everything she needed on page 112 to 119, but nobody told her to check the index first. I made the same mistake again with a project on black holes — the explanation was scattered across three different chapters because the book organizes by theme, not by depth. Once I started directing her to the index upfront, the research time dropped from something like two hours to maybe twenty minutes. Another thing that isn't obvious: the captions and sidebars often contain more specific information than the main text. Scholastic structured these books so the main paragraphs give a general overview at a reading level that younger kids can handle, but the callout boxes and photo captions lean a bit more technical. My kid picked up the concept of gravitational slingshots from a caption, not from any chapter explanation. Those sidebars are worth reading even if you're skimming.
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What the Books Get Right and Where They Fall Apart
The strongest section across the volumes is the solar system coverage. The planet profiles are detailed enough for a school report and the diagrams showing relative sizes and distances are actually accurate. The space exploration chapters, especially the ones covering NASA missions and the International Space Station, are still reasonably current even though some of the event timelines are dated now. The photography is consistently good, which is rare for books aimed at this age group. The weaknesses are predictable but worth listing because they trip people up. The astrophysics content is simplified to the point where some explanations are technically incomplete. When the book talks about how stars die, for example, it glosses over the difference between white dwarfs and neutron stars in a way that might confuse a kid who later reads something more detailed. The sections on dark matter and dark energy are essentially placeholder material — they acknowledge the concepts exist but don't give a real explanation. This is normal for books at this level, but parents sometimes assume the coverage is deeper than it is. The biggest practical limitation is that the books are almost a decade out of date at this point. No New Horizons flyby of Pluto details, no updated James Webb Telescope imagery, no recent mission data. If your kid's school curriculum has moved past what's in these volumes, you'll need a supplement. The National Geographic Kids Almanac or a current NASA educational site fills that gap adequately.
Who This Actually Works For
Kids who are visual learners and just need a gentle introduction to space science will get real value out of these. The picture-heavy layout means they can absorb information without feeling like they're reading a textbook. Kids who already read popular science books at a higher level will probably find the material too shallow within the first fifty pages. It's not an insult to the books, it's just a mismatch between the reading level and the kid's actual knowledge. Teachers and parents who want a classroom reference that sits on a shelf and gets used occasionally will find these durable and useful. I've seen library copies that have survived hundreds of checkouts and still look decent. The binding holds up. The pages don't yellow noticeably. That's more than you can say about a lot of children's reference books from this era. If you're looking for something to replace this entirely, the NASA STEM Engagement website and thefree Cosmic Call series from National Geographic are solid alternatives, though they don't have the same tactile reference quality. For a physical book that's more current, theDK Publishing space encyclopedias tend to stay better updated, even though they're priced higher. The Scholastic versions are cheaper and perfectly adequate for what they are, which is an entry-level reference set that does its job without overpromising.
