Jupiter (First Books - the Solar System Series) [Paperback]

Elaine Landau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: First Books - the Solar System Series

Uses photographs and other recent findings to describe the atmosphere and geographic features of Jupiter.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-- These introductions to planets are filled with full-color photographs, paintings, and colorful chapter heads, but contain no tables or useful diagrams. Landau's texts fill only a third of the respective titles, but still manage to combine unnecessary wordiness with scientific inaccuracy. She defines "equator" in such a way that could mean any great circle; confuses the relation between size, mass, and density; speaks of the Viking landers settling on "somewhat smooth turf" on Mars; consistently claims the Galilean moons are the four nearest Jupiter; and supplies misleading background to the discovery of Neptune. These volumes seem intended to replace Vogt's Mars and the Inner Planets and Nourse's The Giant Planets (both Watts, 1982). They represent a major shift in the series to reach younger audiences; but rather than updating information, they too often omit it instead. They are more comparable to David Hughes's "Planetary Exploration Series" (Facts on File), which contain their own share of errors, illustrated with flamboyant paintings. For scientific accuracy, one is generally safest with volumes from Isaac Asimov's "Library of the Universe" (Gareth Stevens) in spite of their lack of straightforward organization. Or one can turn to the photo essays of Seymour Simon: Jupiter (1985) and Mars (1987 both Morrow) for inspiration and get the facts and figures from encyclopedias and almanacs. --Margaret Chatham, formerly at Smithtown Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

About the Author

Elaine Landau is the author of several nonfiction books for children. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback
• Publisher: Franklin Watts (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531157687
• ISBN-13: 978-0531157688
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,743,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a children's book author and writing coach who loves both children and books. I've never been much of a fiction fan, I've spent my time both reading and writing nonfiction. I live in tropical Miami with my husband and son who are nonfiction lovers as well.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great planet book, March 31, 2011

By 

J. Kiley "joanne" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jupiter (True Books: Space) (Paperback)

This series of planet books is great. Very informative but not so detailed as to lose a kid's interest. My son (6 yrs old) is still very engaged with the level of detail and I enjoy learning the facts too.

5.0 out of 5 stars This book about the stormy planet is colorful, fun and easy to read!, June 2, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jupiter (True Books: Space) (Paperback)

There are eight planets in our solar system and Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It is a beautiful planet to look at and is "covered with orange, brown, and white stripes." These stripes are actually "frozen clouds" and their colors come from different kinds of gas and ice. Unlike space travel to the dwarf planet Pluto, it would take you about a year to get there. The planet is uninhabitable and even getting through the gaseous atmosphere would be a problem. Jupiter is one of the gas giants in the solar system, a planet made up of gas and liquid so even landing on the surface would be out of the question.

Jupiter is a stormy planet and if you look closely at one of the pictures in this book the giant storm occurring makes a tornado look like a picnic One storm is called the "Great Red Spot." This storm is "more than 300 years old" and whirls around to the tune of 250 miles per hour. A few other interesting facts you'll read about in this book are that it is the largest planet, it is a whopping 88,846 miles in diameter, it is approximately 484 million miles for the sun, it has a ring system with 63 moons, a day is 9 hours and 55 minutes (Earth time) and a year is approximately 12 Earth years. This is a "True Book." There are two sentences in the front of the book and only one of them is true. Let's see how quickly you can find the correct one

This book about the stormy planet is colorful, fun and easy to read. Any youngster who is a space fanatic will be quickly drawn into this series of "True Books." There are numerous enhanced photographs in this book, illustrations, informative scattered facts, sidebars, a two page illustrated spread of Jupiter's solar system, a page with statistics, important words, an index and additional recommended books and web sites. Did you know that in 2010 the Jupiter Polar Orbiter (Juno) may head to Jupiter? We may learn even more than we do now. Exciting, isn't it?