11 Engaging Books About Black Holes
NASA/Dana Berry/SkyWorks Digital
Introduction
As I’ve been thinking about my theme of Zero and Infinity, I’ve been trying to build out lessons to create a cross curricular unit. One of the great science topics that touches on zero and infinity is black holes. Plus it’s a fascinating subject that engages students!
Note: I found another great gem about black holes, so I’ve updated this blog post. There are now 12 Engaging Books about Black holes! 😁
Zero, Infinity, and Black Holes
As you may know a black hole is not really a hole but a point (with 0 dimensions) that has an infinite density called a singularity. A black hole has an extreme amount of gravity that nothing—not even light—can escape from it.
As a dying star gets smaller and smaller it disappears and crams itself into zero space, which is a black hole. Although it takes up no space it has mass, it causes space-time to curve. To visualize space-time curvature, envision a very heavy ball on a rubber sheet. The rubber sheet surrounding the ball will curve downwards. Once a very heavy object gets crammed into an extremely small space, the depression caused on the rubber sheet becomes increasingly steep. As an object gets closer to a black hole the curvature goes off to infinity. The point of infinite curvature is the center of a black hole called a singularity. In a black hole space and time are meaningless as time slows down and space becomes infinitely warped.
The only books in this list that touche on zero and infinity is The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole and What do Black Holes Eat for Dinner?, so you will have to supplement if you use any of these books in your classroom if you are doing a thematic unit on Zero and Infinity. This is a great handout created by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science that explains some of the concepts of infinity and black holes: Black Holes – The Other Side of Infinity.pdf
Let me know in the comments of any your favorite books about black holes that I may have missed!
Note: This list is not inclusive of all black hole books. I especially focused on books that could be used in the classroom, so I skipped reviewing classics such as Stephen Hawking’s books about black holes and other books aimed at adults.
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Literary Texts
The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole
The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas is a sweet story about a girl who lost her father but finds a pet black hole. Before his untimely death, the protagonist Stella used to share her love of science with her dad, but now she doesn’t want that memory anymore, so she feeds the memory (and a bunch of other things) to her very hungry pet black hole. That is until she has to face the black hole in order to save her dog. The book does a good job of telling a story while still integrating some science concepts. This would be a perfect cross-curricular book for Grades 4-6 and perhaps 7th.
Buy The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas. Note: I am NO longer participating in the affiliate link program on Amazon (8/28/25), but I’m leaving the links for your convenience.
The Black Hole Debacle
The Black Hole Debacle by Keri Claiborne Boyle is about a girl named Jordie who finds a black hole in her desk at school. It has a very similar concept to The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas; however it is a picture book instead of a chapter book. It’s a much sillier story than the previous one as it’s shorter and lacks the theme of death. It would be a good book to use after reading The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole to practice comparing and contrasting books with similar themes.
Buy The Black Hole Debacle by Keri Claiborne Boyle!
There was a Black Hole that Swallowed the Universe
There was a Black Hole that Swallowed the Universe by Chris Ferrie is a story that imitates the well-known rhyme There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly. It’s a fun book that would be great for introducing or reviewing science vocabulary. You could even compare/contrast it with one of the many versions of There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly to hit an ELA standard. In upper grades, it may also be interesting to use this book as a hook to talk explore scientific notation. For example, you could have 8th graders research the size of all the things the black hole swallows and then express each object’s size using scientific notation. Another cool thing about this book is that you can use a black light and read the book backwards!
Buy There was a Black Hole that Swallowed the Universe by Chris Ferrie!
A Pizza with Everything on It (NEW ADDITION TO THIS POST)
A Pizza with Everything on It by Kyle Scheele is such a delightful book. My four-year-old son loves it, but because of the depth of its ideas, it could even be used in middle school and high school. The protagonist wants his dad to make a pizza with EVERYTHING on it, and when I say everything, I mean everything. Eventually the pizza begins to collapse on itself and becomes a pizza black hole. Not only is the book fun and silly, but it breaks an abstract science concept down into a concrete visual that kids can understand.
Llama Destroys the World
Llama Destroys the World by Johnathan Stutzman is a fun book! It doesn’t go as in-depth into science concepts as I would like, but kids will think it’s really funny. To me it is not a stand-alone book for classroom use, but it could be used as a part of thematic unit on black holes if you wanted to start each class period with a story.
Buy Llama Destroys the World by Johnathan Stutzman!
Informational Texts
A Black Hole is Not a Hole
A Black Hole is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano is a must have for any thematic unit on black holes! It’s a little long, but it’s easy to read and well organized. The images are fantastic, and the graphics are entertaining and relevant. It also includes easy to understand illustrations. I highly recommend this book for middle school and high school classrooms.
Buy A Black Hole is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano.
Black Holes: The Weird Science of the Most Mysterious Objects in the Universe
Black Holes: The Weird Science of the Most Mysterious Objects in the Universe by Sara Latta is another great book for thematic units on black holes especially for upper middle schoolers and high schoolers. The book is rather long and text heavy, so it would be more useful for research projects or even for a teacher who wants to learn more about the topic! It also has a lot of profiles on different scientists including women to help promote STEM careers. The biggest negative of this book is that one of the first textboxes slams creationists which isn’t necessary.
Buy Black Holes by Sara Latta.
Black Hole: My Guide to the Solar System
Black Hole: My Guide to the Solar System by Czeena Devara is a great informational text for kindergarteners and first graders who want to learn about black holes. The entire book is written in first person, which will help kids relate to the black hole. The illustrations are super fun as the black hole looks like a big black smiley face!
Buy Black Hole by Czeena Devara.
What do Black Holes Eat for Dinner: And Other Silly, Yet Totally Smart, Questions About Space
What do Black Holes Eat for Dinner: And Other Silly, Yet Totally Smart, Questions About Space by Dr. Grant Tremblay and Katie Coppens is a book about black holes and other science concepts. Approximately, the first third of the book discusses black holes. It mimics the flow of a middle school classroom discussion. The book is text heavy but written in a conversational tone, and it gives fun and silly illustrations. It’s easy to read, so students can read it as an informational text from start to finish (as opposed to a reference book). Although the question/answer approach is laudable from an inquiry-based perspective, it could use chapter and headers and a table of contents to make reading even easier. It also is one of the few books in the list that mentions infinity (which connects to our Zero and Infinity theme).
Buy What do Black Holes Eat for Dinner: And Other Silly, Yet Totally Smart, Questions About Space by Dr. Grant Tremblay and Katie Coppens.
Black Holes and Other Bizarre Space Objects
Black Holes and Other Bizarre Space Objects by David Jefferis is stylized to look like a magazine. It has a lot of great images, captions, and text boxes. The text boxes are especially helpful to help students understand the concepts of black holes. It also connects black holes to popular media such as other science fiction books, TV shows, and movies. This is a great book for elementary and middle school students, but it could also be a fun resource for high school students due to how it’s stylized.
Buy Black Holes and Other Bizarre Space Objects by David Jefferis!
Black Holes (Out of this World)
Black Holes (Out of this World) by Virginia Loh-Hagan is a short chapter book aimed at upper elementary school kids. Each chapter is 1-3 pages and the has some beautiful pictures in it.
Buy Black Holes by Virginia Loh-Hagan!
Black Holes (A True Book: Space)
Black Holes by Ker Than is another short chapter book about black holes. The chapters are a little longer than Loh-Hagan’s book, but the author makes great use of headings. It also has beautiful illustrations and had good captions. This book could be used for elementary and middle school kids.
Buy Black Holes by Ker Than!
Disclosure: I only recommend products/books that I think would be helpful to you in your journey as an educator. All opinions expressed here are my own. This post does NOT contain affiliate links at this time (8/28/25). Read my full privacy policy here.
Ladder and Friends Learn To Pray: Coming SPring 2026
Although, this is not a black hole book, it is a book I’m publishing, and I want to share it with you! Ladder and Friends Learn to Pray is a bedtime prayer book featuring trucks and vehicles. When trying to implement a bedtime routine for my son, many of the Christian resources I found for young children had cute little kids and cuddly animals. This was not appealing at all to my son; he wanted trucks and wheels and trains! So, I scoured Amazon looking for Christian books aimed at young boys, but I couldn’t find anything. Therefore, I decided to write my own. It should be available Spring 2026. Join my pre-order email list today to get the latest updates about when the book will be available. (Note: There is NO financial obligation at this time!)
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