Customer Reviews

The Planets

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Gail Gibbons book on the planets contains just a little bit more information than most young children's books on the subject. From information on how and why planets and stars look differently in the night sky to the distances of each planet from the sun, there's more for curious minds to ponder.

The book begins by explaining a few difference between stars and planets. It continues with how the planets were named and the later discovery of the outer three. Then our solar system, orbits and rotations are discussed.

Each planet is then explained in detail. The book does a nice job of choosing facts to present and keeping the topics consistent from planet to planet. Each planet's distance from the sun, relative size, length of day and year and are included. When appropriate moons are mentioned. Unlike many other young children's books on the planets, information on some of the more well-known moons of other planets is given. Considering the target audience of the book, the information is nicely comprehensive.

Toward the end of the book astronomers and space craft are very briefly mentioned. No information on space travel is included. As the title implies, the book focuses on information about the planets.

The illustrations are nicely done; the book contains no photographs. The drawings, however, are very detailed and present the planets in a nice perspective. They are very well done.

My five year old daughter loves this book as it's concise and easy for her to read. She loves to learn the details of each planet and how many moons they have. This however is where our first problem arose. The book reports that Jupiter has 63 moons, and then on the following page states that Saturn has 36 moons "more than any other planet." Even a five year old knows that 36 isn't more than 63. Lesson learned: Don't believe everything you read." FYI: Saturn has 47 moons to date.

This book is very readable at the kindergarten/first grade level. It's great to find a book for that first introduction. My kids read and re-read it. There are facts about every planet, nice illustrations, and comprehensible text.