Customer Reviews

The Earth and Sky (First Discovery Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I purchased this book used a number of years ago and was very disappointed to see that they had incorrect information regarding the phases of the moon. I called the publisher to mention it to them and I received a polite, "Thanks for letting us know." I don't think they took me seriously. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this book! If you want your children to learn factual information this is not the book for you. The incorrect information is this: "As the moon moves around the earth, our planet blocks the sunlight from a part of the moon's surface. That makes the moon appear to change its shape." What they describe is actually what occurs during a lunar eclipse -- this is NOT what causes the phases of the moon. I am disappointed to see that this same mistake is still in new copies of this book as pointed out by another reviewer.

Though it is a nice book, and maybe YOU don't care whether they get the details right, the book is factually incorrect on one topic: it states that the phases of the moon are caused by the earth's shadow falling on the moon. I couldn't believe such a huge mistake would make it through the editorial process, through the printers, and all the way to bookstores, so I looked it up to double-check myself. If you don't believe me look at the wikipedia article on "phases of the moon".
While I don't expect my 5.5-year-old to understand all of the intricacies of planetary orbits, this is a basic fact that is WRONG. I tried to find the publisher online but so far have not (i.e. could not find "Cartwheel Books" and could not find Cartwheel's own section on Scholastic's site).

This series is an imitation of the Eyewitness format for younger readers. It is most appropriate for ages 2-5.

This book discusses the Earth as a planet, the layers of the earth, caves and volcanoes, day and nightconstellations, and the solar system. Its strength is its breadth. Its weakness is its shallowness and its overgeneralizations and one factually incorrect section--this sort of problem plagues this series, I fear.

I really like this book for my own children and for my classroom. My copy reads "From Earth we see only the part of the moon that reflects the sun's bright light."....."As the moon goes [around the earth] we see less and less of the moon." Mentions that the angle changes and we only see the part that is facing the earth and reflecting the sun's light. No mention of the earth blocking the light.

I was stunned when I read this book to my son and came to the part about the earth's shadow causing the lunar phases which, of course, is totally wrong. At a time when science literacy seems to be declining in our country, it's too bad that through their negligence, Scholastic has become part of the problem, not the solution. This isn't the first time, either. Another Scholastic book, "If You Decide to Go to the Moon," makes the shocking claim that "both meteors and comets are pieces of stars that exploded long ago and have been flying around in space ever since." I contacted Scholastic, but they seemed disinterested. It would require minimal effort on the part of Scholastic to simply send their manuscripts off to a couple astronomy professors or planetarium directors for a quick fact check. For Scholastic to have allowed two grievous errors to slip through in two different books calls into question the accuracy of all their books and should be a major red flag to parents.

My children have a really good tool to conceptualize space and the solar system. My son knew the names and order of the planets at 4 yrs old. My kids like to read and look at the transparencies on their own when I'm not reading them these books. We have several others of this series. This is a good way to introduce physical and natural science in a fun format.

My 3.5 years old daughter enjoyed it. It's really wonderful with these transparent pages.