Tag Archives: astronomy

May27

Planet Mars (Seemore Readers) by Seymour Simon

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Planet Mars (Seemore Readers) by Seymour Simon

Simon, Seymour. Planet Mars. Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0811854054 32 pp. $6.99

**

This repackaged version of Simon’s Destination Mars (HarperCollins, 2000) is a fact-filled photographic journey to the red planet, updated with the most current Mars research findings. The 32 pages explore the possibility of life on Mars, unmanned scientific missions to the planet, and statistics about it’s size, distance, topography, and satellites. Information for the most part is related simply, comparing Mars’ qualities to Earth counterparts such as Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon. Short straightforward sentences don’t leave enough room to explain or define concepts such as early Rome and it’s polytheistic religion, polar ice caps, or the impact of discovering bacteria fossils in meteorites from Mars. Most words contain fewer than two syllables, and proper names appear with in text pronunciation guides. The levels on the back mark this volume as for readers in grades Pre-K to 1; this seems to be a bit unrealistic.

The text is large and lettering is high contrast for beginning readers, but the design technique of placing a colored block that matches the tones in the photo, rather than contrasts them, give a dull and static tone to the images. The photos, courtesy of NASA and ESA, are beautiful and majestic, but the small format doesn’t do them justice. There are no source notes, glossary, or index–although not traditional in easy readers, this is a work of nonfiction, and should contain a bibliography at the very least. Purchase in paperback.

Dec16

Is There Life in Outer Space? by Franklyn Mansfield Branley

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Is There Life in Outer Space? by Franklyn Mansfield Branley

Branley, Franklyn Mansfield. Is There Life in Outer Space? Harper Collins, 1999. ISBN 97978-0064451925 40 pp. $

By relating famous hoaxes such as the radio broadcast of H.G. Well’s War of the Worlds and discussing recent space probes to Mars, Mercury and Venus, Branley comes to the conclusion that there might be life beyond Earth… but not in our solar system. While he admits there may be possibilities of life in other galaxies, he claims there most likely isn’t life in our solar system except for what exists on Earth. This is an outdated and inaccurate view.

The goal of the series is to introduce basic science concepts to young children, but the only concept I came away with was very Earth-centric–none of our species could live on Mars, ergo, there is no life on Mars. Branley never defines life. In truth, we cannot assume “life” to be carbon based, requiring warm temperatures and sunlight. In fact, on our very own planet we have found species that do not require these things. Instead of writing “there is no life on Mars,” Branley might have written, “There is no life as we know it today on Mars.” If this idea is too scary for young children, perhaps there isn’t a need for a low-level book on this topic.

At the very least, the book serves as a jumping off point for an interesting discussion. The authorial intrusion in the book (“People also say it’s silly to believe there is life on them [other planets:]. I don’t think so.”) is annoying and condescending. The writing is too simplified; children could handle more details than are given about the planets, the space program, and the various ways alien life has been envisioned in our culture.

The illustrations are a bizarre mix of simple brightly colored collage style pictures and photographs. The diagram of the solar system is great, and whimsical aliens decorate the end papers and many pages. A page of further activities concludes the book. No works are cited, no resources for more information are listed. A glossary, index and timeline would have been appropriate inclusions. This book was originally published in 1984; it needs much more overhaul than it received.