I am dedicating this book to Papa for inspiring me to write Shammy stories of my own and to Mama for taking us to see the upcoming eclipse.

Chapter 1: A Visit From Shammy    4

Chapter 2: Solar Eclipse    6

Chapter 3: Annular, Partial, Total, and Hybrid Eclipses    9

Chapter 4: A Different Point of View    12

Chapter 5: Pinholes and Boxes    14

Chapter 6: Ring of Fire!    17

Chapter 7: Red Moons    20

Chapter 8: Earth’s Shadow    23

Chapter 9: Viewing Time!    26

Chapter 10: GoodBye Shammy    28

Chapter 11: Upcoming Lunar and Solar Eclipses    32

About The Author  34

    Once upon a time, a long, long, time ago, (really only like 5 minutes ago), Shammy the leprechaun went to visit his two human friends, Pila and her little brother Dimo. They were in their house packing for something...

    “Hi kids! What are you doing?” Shammy asked. "Why are you packing all of those bags?"

    “Hi Shammy! We’re going to Oregon this October!” the kids exclaimed.

    “Really? Cool! How? Why? When?” Shammy asked.

    “We’re going on the 13th and are coming back on the 17th. Unfortunately, we still don’t have magic so we have to drive. More specifically, our parents are going to drive us. We are very excited because we are going to see a very special event in the sky!” the kids exclaimed. 

    "What are you going to see?" Shammy asked.

    "We are going to see a solar eclipse!" Dimo said.

“What on Earth and Shamalamadingdong is a solar eclipse?” Shammy asked.

    “I think you mean what in the universe, Shammy. Solar means sun. A solar eclipse is when the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up perfectly so the Moon covers the light from the Sun, casting a shadow on the Earth. Because the Moon is closer to the Earth than the Sun, it appears big enough to completely or partially cover the Sun resulting in a solar eclipse,” Pila explained.

    “I sort of understand, but not exactly,” Shammy said.

    “I have an idea,” Dimo said. “Here, Pila hold this flashlight. Ok. Shammy, pretend that the flashlight is the Sun. Here, we have a tiny ball and a big ball. The big ball is the Earth and the small ball is the Moon. I will be the Earth and Shammy, you will be the Moon.” Dimo put the Moon on Shammy’s hat. “When we line them all up perfectly, Sun, Moon, and Earth, you can see that as the Moon passes in front of the Sun it casts a shadow on the Earth. Just like in a real solar eclipse,” Dimo said. “Now do you understand Shammy?”

    “Yes. I do understand now. Thanks.”

  “And you can’t see a solar eclipse from everywhere on Earth. You have to be directly in the Moon’s shadow on Earth, to experience the eclipse. The eclipse looks different on Earth depending on where you are standing in the shadow. The view of an eclipse from the darker part of the shadow- the Umbra- looks different from the view of an eclipse from the lighter part of the shadow- the Penumbra,” Pila explained.

    “Do you have eclipses on your planet, Shammy?” Dimo asked.
    “We actually do have solar eclipses on my planet too! We just call them no-sun days. But because we have 5 moons, we get solar eclipses every other day! Because this is the first time you’re mentioning an eclipse,  I’m guessing yours are less often. How often are your solar eclipses?” Shammy asked.

    “The Earth has about 2-5 solar eclipses every year,” Pila said.

    “But total solar eclipses happen about every 18 months and they rarely happen on the same place on Earth,” Dimo added.

    “Wait. There are different types of eclipses too?” Shammy asked.

    “There sure are! We’ll tell you about them,” the kids said.

    “Ok,” Pila said, pulling down a chart of solar eclipses. “There are 4 different types of solar eclipses.”

    “The first type of eclipse is an annular eclipse, which is the type of eclipse we are going to see in Oregon," Dimo said. "My favorite part about an annular eclipse is when it is mid-eclipse and a bright ring of sunshine shines all the way around the Moon resulting in a ring of fire!"

    “Ok, I think I understand the annular eclipse,” Shammy said.

    “Good,” said Pila. “The next type of eclipse is a partial eclipse. When a partial eclipse happens, the Moon only covers a part of the Sun. A partial eclipse may remain partial or it can turn into a total or annular eclipse.”

    “Ok, that makes sense,” Shammy said. “What is a total eclipse?”

    “A total eclipse is my favorite type of eclipse, Shammy,” Dimo said. “When a total eclipse happens, the Moon covers the Sun completely! And you can see a diamond ring!”

    “What is a diamond ring?” Shammy asked.

    “A diamond ring is when there is one bailey bead left as the Moon is covering the Sun and that single bailey bead is the diamond ring. It actually does look like a ring with a diamond on the end. A bailey bead is sunlight passing through a valley on the Moon,” Dimo said.

    “Cool! But that is only eclipse number three and you said there are four types of eclipses. What is the last one?” Shammy asked.

    “We saved the best for last Shammy. The final eclipse is a hybrid eclipse. It can be either an annular eclipse OR total eclipse depending on where you are on Earth. Cool, right?!” Pila exclaimed. “It’s my favorite type of eclipse.”

    “Hey kids! I just got a great idea. Remember the flashlight demonstration you did? What if we went into space and saw the real thing from up there. I could put bubbles around you again so you can breathe and stay warm. Want to go?” Shammy asked.

    “Of course!” Pila replied. “But the eclipse isn’t for a week. How can we watch it?” 

“I can take us to the future to watch it,” Shammy said. The kids nodded their heads so Shammy snapped his fingers and POOF! They were off to future space!

    “Shammy, are we really in the future?” Pila asked.

    “Take a look Pila! The Sun, Moon, and Earth are all in a line aren’t they? And the Sun, Moon, and Earth are all lined up in the future, so we must be in the future!” Dimo exclaimed. “Wait! Will our parents in the future realize we are gone?” 

    “Don’t worry. Your parents don’t even know you’re gone. And correct! We are in the future. Let’s focus on the reason we came: to see a solar eclipse from space,” Shammy reminded them.

    “Right,” they said. 

    “Look! The Moon is coming towards us!” Dimo exclaimed.

    “Look down on Earth. Do you see what I see?” Pila asked.

    “Yes!” Shammy and Dimo exclaimed. “I can see Earth’s shadow!”

    “I can see the umbra, penumbra, and the antumbra. In the umbra, you can see a total eclipse. In the penumbra, you see a partial eclipse. Finally, in the antumbra, you can see an annular eclipse,” Dimo said.

    “Look! The shadow is over Oregon now,” Shammy said.

    “That means the eclipse is happening!” the kids exclaimed.

From their bubbles, they watched as the moon’s shadow created an eclipse on Earth.

    “Ok Shammy, we’re ready to go now,” the kids said.

Shammy snapped his fingers and POOF! They were in the past on Earth again!

    “Wow! Watching the eclipse from space was so cool!” Dimo exclaimed. 

    “I agree,” said Pila.

    “Me too. But if you humans can only look at the Sun when us leprechauns are around, then how do you watch the eclipse?” Shammy asked.

    “Well Shammy, either you can buy some eclipse viewing glasses or you could make something called a pinhole viewer,” Pila said. 

    “What is a pinhole viewer?”

    “A pinhole viewer is a box with a pinhole in it. When the eclipse happens, the light from the Sun comes through the pinhole. As the Moon starts to cover the Sun, the light from the Sun also gets covered and you can see the shadow of the eclipse projected through the eclipse viewer!” Dimo exclaimed.

    “Cool!” said Shammy. “Can you show me how to make one?”

    “Sure! All we need is a box, some foil, a pin, some scissors, a piece of white paper, and some tape,” Pila said. Shammy snapped his fingers and POP! There were all the materials.

 “What’s the first step?” Shammy asked.

    “First, find the short side of the box. Then cut and tape the piece of white paper to the inside of the short side of the box. On the opposite side of the box, cut two big holes. One hole is for your eye to look through and the other hole is to let the light in,” Dimo explained.

    “Then, take your piece of foil and put it over one hole and tape it down. Poke a tiny hole into the foil using the pin. This is the pinhole and will be where the light comes in from,” Pila said. “Here, take a look while Dimo shines a flashlight to act like the Sun.”

    “Okay,” said Shammy. He looked through the viewer. “I see the light!”

    “Okay, I’m going to slowly cover the light with my hand as Dimo holds the light. Watch what happens through the viewer.” Pila slowly moved her hand over the light, acting like the Moon.

    “I see the light getting covered by the Pila’s hand!” Shammy exclaimed.

    “That’s how it would look during a solar eclipse, Shammy,” Pila said.

    “Hey Shammy, maybe you could come with us to Oregon to see the solar eclipse,” Dimo said.

 “You never know,” said Shammy. He snapped his fingers and POOF! He was gone!

    After one week, the kids and their parents left for Oregon to watch the eclipse. When they got there, there was a surprise waiting for them…

    “Shammy! You came to watch the eclipse with us!” the kids exclaimed.

    “Of course I did. I told you I would, didn’t I?” Shammy asked.

    “Not exactly,” Dimo answered.

    “Well, us leprechauns can’t always say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in case it is a trick to capture us. But I think I can trust you kids now, at least until St. Patrick's Day!” Shammy said. “When is the eclipse?”

    “The eclipse is going to start really soon. Shammy, can you make yourself invisible to all other humans? There are going to be a bunch of other humans watching. Me and Pila are just going to go and grab our eclipse viewing glasses,” Dimo said.

    “Ok,” Shammy said.

    The kids grabbed their glasses and came back with their parents to go see the eclipse.

    “Meet us at the eclipse-viewing park,” Dimo whispered to Shammy.

 When they finally got to the park were they could watch the eclipse, the first thing the kids did was look for Shammy.

    “There he is!” Pila whispered to Dimo.

    “We’re going to sit over there,” Dimo told their parents and they put on their glasses and raced off to catch up with Shammy. 

    “Hi Shammy!” Dimo said.

    “Hi kids!”

    “Look! The eclipse is starting now!” Pila exclaimed. She pulled out her camera and started taking pictures.

    And sure enough, the Sun was starting to get covered by the Moon.

    “It’s the ring of fire! Because the Moon is smaller than the Sun and it can’t cover the Sun completely, there is a ring of fire around the Moon,” Pila said.

    “Wow! I love this ring of fire eclipse. I wish it could happen every day,” Dimo said. 

    “Yeah, too bad it can’t happen more often. But don’t worry, a lunar eclipse is coming up soon! It is happening on March 25, 2024. And we can watch it from home too!” Pila exclaimed.

 “Wait, what’s a lunar eclipse?” Shammy asked.

    “I’ll explain tomorrow when we get home, today I just want to look and the pictures I took,” Pila said.

    “Hi kids! It’s tomorrow and you’re home! What is a lunar eclipse?” Shammy asked. Again.

    “Ok Shammy," Pila said as she pulled another chart down from nowhere. "Lunar means Moon. A lunar eclipse is basically the exact opposite of a solar eclipse. The Sun, Earth, and Moon, all line up in a row so that this time the Earth blocks the light from the Sun casting a shadow on the Moon."

    “And that’s not all. The Moon is going to be red!” Dimo exclaimed.

    “Red?! What do you mean red?! WHY?! Also why does it have to be red and not green?” Shammy asked.

    “Well Shammy, red is the color that travels more directly through the Earth’s atmosphere. Blue light scatters away but the longer red, orange, and yellow light pass through turning the Moon red,” Pila explained. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

    “Ok, I think I understand now. Also, remember when I said that our planet has five Moons? That means that we also have lunar eclipses too! 

     Except that our Moons turn green. Partly because of our magic,” Shammy explained.

    “That’s so cool! Also, there are different types of lunar eclipses. The first one- total lunar eclipse- is the one we are going to see. In this lunar eclipse, the Moon is completely red,” Dimo said.

    “The second type of lunar eclipse is the partial lunar eclipse. In this eclipse, only a part of the Moon is red. The final lunar eclipse is a penumbral eclipse. In this eclipse, the Moon is only slightly dimmed,” Pila explained.

    “That is so cool! Have you humans ever been on the Moon while a lunar eclipse is happening?” Shammy asked.

    “No,” Pila said. “Could you take us?”

      “Sure!” said Shammy. “We can just travel into the future again, watch a lunar eclipse from the Moon, and come back to the past! What do you say?”

    “Yes!” Pila yelled at the same time Dimo yelled “NO!”

    Pila and Shammy both looked at Dimo.

    “Ok fine. Yes,” Dimo said.