Explore the ancient wisdom of the night sky. Stories of the Zodiac is the fourth book in the best-selling Dot to Dot in the Sky series, blending sky science with ancient myths.
The adventures of gods, animals and heroes are illustrated in the 12 zodiac constellations. Each constellation presents a Greek myth to discover and myriad celestial objects to explore, including nebulae, multiple star systems and meteor showers.
Discover how the constellations have been used to create horoscopes that describe personalities and predict the future. Find out the difference between astrology and astronomy, and how to easily search for the zodiac constellations by jumping between star groups in the sky.
It's fun to look skyward and know the stories that originated long ago, when people first gazed at the same star patterns we see today. The ancient stories once told to explain events and describe human emotions are just as appealing in modern times.
Joan Marie Galat
lives in the Alberta countryside near Edmonton, where she can often be found gazing upwards. She shares her love of the sky in the Dot to Dot in the Sky series, which offers both science and stories from ancient cultures about our environment and the night sky.
Joan's writing career began with a weekly newspaper column when she was 12 years old. Now an award-winning and best-selling author, she has written more than a dozen books for both children and adults. She provides freelance writing and editing through her communications business, MoonDot Media, and is a frequent presenter at schools and libraries.
While Alberta's long winter nights and big prairie sky are ideal for stargazing, Joan also enjoys other pastimes such as reading, camping, kayaking, spending time outdoors, and even stiltwalking. She likes to travel and picnic, which led to her book Day Trips from Edmonton.
Visit Joan's websites at www.joangalat.com and www.moondotmedia. com for details on her books, presentations, and writing workshops.
Lorna Bennett
attended the Fine Arts/Arts programs at Grant MacEwan College and The University of Alberta. After working full time as a designer/illustrator for many years, Lorna became a full-time freelance illustrator in 1998 and began to illustrate trade picture books, greeting cards, novel covers, as well as nonfiction, technical illustration, other language books and cookbooks. Lorna has worked as a writer and as an animator in traditional and digital animation with an Edmonton multimedia group; projects include work for the National Film Board and Royal Provincial Museum's Wild Alberta permanent exhibit multimedia. Lorna has held solo exhibitions of original oil paintings at the Art Gallery of Alberta (formerly the Edmonton Art Gallery), the Royal Alberta Museum, and major libraries in Edmonton and Calgary.
"Love, hate, jealousy, revenge—these are the basic elements of the original soap opera of the sky that plays out every night above our heads. Joan Marie Galat tells the colourful tales of mythological creatures seen among the stars by ancient skywatchers and adds the modern drama of exploding supernovae and alien planets found within the same constellations today. This stargazers' companion brings the night sky to life with the full story of your zodiacal sign."
— Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks
"This book makes sense of the constellations of the zodiac and explains their significance in terms of both astronomy and astrology . . . The author describes the yearly journey of the sun, moon, and planets through these groupings of stars in an informative and interesting way."
— James Foster, PhD, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA
"As a Sagittarian, was I predestined to coach university archery and to be launched like an arrow into the sky? Mythology and astronomy will always connect ancient lives to ours and Dot to Dot in the Sky is the remarkable story of how and why."
— Roberta Bondar, scientist, physician, astronaut, photographer, author
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