I first started writing The Heavens Declare several years ago when my mother suggested I write a ‘living’ science book about the solar system for my younger siblings and others to read.
The Heavens Declare: Five Children, Eight Planets, and One God is about a homeschooling family vacationing in the mountains of Northern Arizona. The children learn from their father—an amateur astronomer, and mother about each of the planets in our solar system. Along the way the family learns of God’s goodness and to trust Him with their hopes, plans, and days. The Heavens Declare is filled with action such as playing ‘pine cone wars’ in the woods and looking at Venus through a telescope. From dreaming about landing on Mercury to trying to move the family van during a heavy rainstorm, from having family devotions to rescuing ‘princesses’ in a ‘tower’, this book weaves interesting facts about the solar system with everyday, ordinary family life. It is sure to hold children’s attention, causing them to desire more knowledge about their God and His creation!
With this book, I intend to:
-inspire in 8-12 year old children an interest in the amazing creation of God
-present an ordinary homeschooling Christian family learning together about their extraordinary God
-express a biblical worldview that revolutionizes the study of science as well as the everyday lives of the characters in this book
-supply avid young readers with wholesome, interesting reading material
...the author:
Perry is a Christian homeschool graduate who loves to write. Her plan for the future is to marry a godly man and raise as many children as the Lord gives. At present, she desires to be useful to God in her church, community, and father's home while continuing to write to the Lord's glory. She lives in Oregon with her family of 10.
...the illustrations:
The illustrations were drawn on 20 lb., 92 brightness copy paper with an ordinary #2 pencil. They were derived from carefully posed and modified photographs.
Mercury- my brother climbed up in the hallway, bracing himself against the walls. I then flipped the picture upside-down on the computer.
Venus- the owl is drawn from a slightly modified stock photo.
Mars- my brother and I sat in dining room chairs at our family’s computer desk. We used a computer joystick as the controller.
Asteroid Belt- this was the most fun photo to pose. I gathered pine cones and laid them out on the ground. Then I had a little friend run and pick them up. He had so much fun, and so did I!
Gaseous Planets- this illustration was most spectacularly weird to put together. A friend in AZ e-mailed pictures of the bunk beds at family camp. I had to mesh two of them together to get it right. After drawing the basic layout, I had my brother pose with his legs sticking out from under his bed. I then scanned in my drawing and merged it with the picture of his legs to get the angles right.
Pluto- this is one of my favorite illustrations. I handed a paper towel tube to my sister, Kate, and had her and Anna stand on our deck. This gave me the tree house railing I was looking for.
Earth- this illustration was pretty straightforward. I simply had Mr. C walk along the road carrying a gas can. He was very obliging and walked back and forth several times to let me get a good shot. I do wonder, though, what people thought as they drove by!
...the cover:
The cover was made with a program called “Photo Explosion.” I simply used different colors and gradients to make the background, adding small stars in the sky. I spent a lot of time pasting tons of grass clip-art to fill in the bottom edge. Several members of the C family and an unrelated boy posed for the family picture. He had the strange task of playing both twins. I posed him twice and merged the second pose into the graphic.
The author wishes to thank...
God- for creating the subject matter and everything else, and for redeeming me
My parents- for supporting and advising me in this endeavor
My siblings- for being my greatest fans
Dr. Jay Wile- for fine-tuning the scientific facts
Ann- for editing (and in such an entertaining way!)
My beta-test families- for reading, commenting, and reviewing
And all the rest- Tyler, David Rives, the Cano and Bloomer families, Todd Hillard, the Ingrahams, and “Deedee” for encouraging me with your practical helps and suggestions along the way.
