Martian Rock [Hardcover]

Carol Diggory Shields (Author), Scott Nash (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A group of Martians looking for life on the different planets in the solar system make a surprising discovery just as they are about to give up.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The creators of Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp team up for a playful interplanetary trek that follows four Martians on a mission to find alien life. The travelers' first destination is the distant Orb Number Nine, which Earthlings call Pluto: "It was dreary and dark,/ and mostly all granite./ They radioed home--/ 'No life on this planet.' " The Martians work backward through the inhospitable Neptune, Uranus and Saturn, but at Jupiter "they decided to beat it./ 'If anything lives here,/ we don't want to meet it!' " Before heading home, they land pessimistically upon the blue-and-green Orb Number Three. At last, in a twist similar to that of Neil Layton's Smile If You're Human, the aliens meet some friendly organisms--a flock of playful penguins--and present them with a souvenir "Martian rock." Nash, like Layton, models the buglike, antennaed aliens on a vacationing family. He takes comic liberties with their bright red hovercraft, which looks like a 1950s-era car with tail fins and includes an ovoid silver trailer. An informative afterword nicely recaps all the Orbs in the Martians' solar system. Ages 4-8. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-A group of Martians who blast off in search of life on other planets are about to give up after many unsuccessful landings. Finally, however, they reach the South Pole and discover a colony of penguins. After much cavorting with their newfound friends, they head for home in great jubilation, leaving the penguins a rock as a souvenir of their visit. Breezy cartoon drawings accompany the rhyming text. A two-page spread at the end provides a little information about the planets, but the layout is confusing. A ho-hum story, with equally bland art.
Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; 1st edition (November 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763605980
• ISBN-13: 978-0763605988
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 10.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shields/Nash Socko Space Saga, December 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Martian Rock (Hardcover)

Every Martian, gazing out into the measureless heavens, has pondered the question "Is there anything out there?" "Martian Rock" answers this question for all time, and you'll love it even if you are Venusian, Plutonian, or Earthling. Four Martian astronauts take off in their shiny-red spacecar in search of intelligent life. It's a long and frustrating odyssey, as they flit from one visually-stunning but unpopulated planet to another. Exhausted and cranky and depleted of clean underwear, our heroes are ready to throw in the interstellar towel and head home, but they decide to make one last stop, and suddenly encounter life---maybe not spectacularly intelligent life, but indisputably genial. Carol Diggory Shields's clever story and charming rhyming text could captivate even the most cosmos-indifferent child, but it's Scott Nash's dazzlingly colorful and funny illustrations that would make "Martian Rock" a heavy-rotation item on any child's book-at-bedtime reading program. Parents will love it, too; it has the same transgenerational crossover appeal of "Toy Story".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book to read aloud to kids - lots of fun!, February 12, 2002

By 

R. Webb (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Martian Rock (Hardcover)

I read lots of books to my 2 preschool girls, but Martian Rock is at the top of the charts. The playful rhymes make it fun for me to read aloud, and my kids get such a kick out of the story and the illustrations.

As a bonus, there are 2 pages at the end of the book with interesting facts about each of the planets in the solar system (lots of info that many adults might not know). This is one of the few books I would run out and buy for a gift for any preschooler, boy or girl.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK, November 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Martian Rock (Hardcover)

I have been reading this to my pre-schooler boys for over a year and we love it. Now they ask me all the time to name the planets and remind them which one is the green slimy one. It has sparked a real interest in astrology for my boys and I highly recommend it.