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IS THERE LIFE IN OUTER SPACE? by Franklyn M. Branley

IS THERE LIFE IN OUTER SPACE?

by Franklyn M. Branley

Pub Date: Sept. 30th, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028146-4
Publisher: HarperCollins

PLB 0-06-028145-6 paper 0-06-445192-5 Is There Life In Outer Space? (40pp.; $15.95; PLB $15.89; paper $4.95; Sept.; 0-06-028146-4; PLB 0-06-028145-6; paper 0-06-445192-5): Colorful, fanciful, outlandish artwork from Miller are the attention-getters here, for Branley’s 1984 text makes no claims on space exploration in the 90s. Branley begins his examination of the search for extraterrestrials with two examples of fabrication: the wishful sightings of Moon folk, and Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” hoax. Welles admitted to his big joke, and both manned and unmanned space probes have set the records straight on the moon and planetary life. The author must foster the possibility that distant galaxies, outside our ken but not our lively imagination, may support life: “Who knows?” The recent spate of books on the universe and other aspects of the vast Out There only make this one—despite Miller’s zany computer- generated scenes and full-color photographs’seem feeble. (Picture book. 3-6)