My Night in the Planetarium

7-year-old Innosanto spends an exciting night with his mom sleeping under the stars in the Jakarta Planetarium. Innosanto's father is a playwright and the boy memorizes lines during the actors' rehearsals, so they invite him to join the performance, which tours the country. The play is about a General, who doesn't treat people very well, so they decided to do a play about how that was wrong. Fact: Indonesia aka The Spice Islands is the place Christopher Columbus was looking for when he crashed in the New World. Fact: Indonesia is made up of 17000 islands where people speak over 750 different languages. Fact: when Inno was a child, speaking out against the government could land you in jail. On the last night of the performace Inno packs a toothbrush (they figured if you're going to go to jail for a long time, you may as well have your toothbrush with you so you can keep your teeth clean. (true story).), the curtains go down, and with soldiers on the way, the actors scatter into hiding. On its surface, My Night in the Planetarium is a modern Indonesian children's story about one night in the late '70s that the author got to spend in the Jakarta planetarium. But it's actually much more than that. It's an introduction to the history and culture of Indonesia. It's about colonialism, revolution, how power corrupts, and how through art and solidarity liberation can be won.

Author: Innosanto Nagara
Publisher: Triangle Square
Published: 11/10/2016
Pages: 24
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.10h x 9.30w x 0.30d
ISBN: 9781609807009
Audience: Ages 9-12


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/19/2016
School Library Journal 10/01/2016 pg. 129
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2017 pg. 232 - Marginal, Seriously Flawed

About the Author
INNOSANTO NAGARA's new-wave board books encourage children to grow up with confidence in themselves, and to be proactive citizens who are passionate about causes from environmental issues to LGBTQ rights and civil rights. Nagara was born and raised in Indonesia, and moved to the US in 1988. After studying zoology and philosophy at UC Davis, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a graphic designer for a range of social change organizations, before founding the Design Action Collective, a worker-owned cooperative design studio in Oakland, California.