Tag Archives: Seymour Simon

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

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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.

Jan21

Emergency Vehicles (Seemore Readers) by Seymour Simon

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Emergency Vehicles (Seemore Readers) by Seymour Simon

Simon, Seymour. Emergency Vehicles. Chronicle, 2006. ISBN 978-0811854078 32 pp.

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This exciting book highlights vehicles used to help people: firetrucks, rescue helicopters, ambulances, police cars and more, giving the basic function and duties of each. Each vehicle is highlighted in a two page spread with a color photo and a paragraph or two of information, whetting the reader’s appetite for topics that a whole book could be devoted to.

Like Simon’s Planet Mars volume of the Seemore Readers series, most words contain fewer than two syllables, and the font is large for beginning readers. The word complexity seems above a Pre-K to grade 1 audience. The photos vary between shots of just the vehicle and interior images with people. The small format doesn’t allow for more than one image per vehicle, and the larger than life impact of these important vehicles would be better suited to a larger picture book format.

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.