Displaced Planet! A Place for Pluto by Stef Wade

FOR THE BETTER PART OF FOREVER, PLUTO WAS A PLANET.

Poor Pluto! He's a displaced person (er, planet).

After hanging out with the big boy planets for nearly a century, Pluto has just gotten a disturbing memo: He's been downgraded from the Platinum Planet Class.

After being one of the Big Nine, a prestigious elite, since 1930, suddenly Pluto finds he's out of the loop. Really.

To be a planet, the astronomers declared, a body has to have three characteristics:

It is in orbit around the Sun.
It has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape).
It has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.

And although Pluto has faithfully orbited the sun for ages, and although he is sortasphere-ish (Okay, so some of us have a few bulges in the wrong places!), it seems he isn't quite weighty enough to "clear" his orbit of other bodies.

Pluto is miffed. Hey! No collision! he argues. And he's got five moons! That's way better than Earth can do! Pluto feels he's been unfairly unfriended by the whole solar system!

With his faithful moons in tow, Pluto sets out to find somebody to hang around the sun with.

HIS FRIEND HALLEY'S COMET STREAKED PAST.

"HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN A WHILE," PLUTO SAID.

"YEAH, I GET THAT A LOT," SAID THE COMET.

But Halley's Comet has his long tail. Pluto doesn't have any tail, so he can't be a comet. The meteorites look like they are having a high old time trying to strike the Earth, but Pluto still feels like Earth is his relative, not his target. Maybe he can find friends in the asteroid belt. He hails Ida the Asteroid, who points out that he's just not rocky enough for their group. He's a total misfit!

NO ONE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM WAS A MATCH FOR PLUTO.

But, wait! There is another kind of body in the loop!

IT WAS LIKE LOOKING AT HIMSELF IN A MIRROR!

And they have their own group--The DWARF PLANETS. Haumesa, MakeMake, Ceres, and Eris recognize Pluto as one of them, in Stef Wade's sly story of solar system social groups, A Place for Pluto (Capstone Editions) (Capstone Press, 2018). There is plenty of humorous solar system back-and-forth banter, along with some solid science in this story of poor Pluto, the cast-off planet who sets out to find his new place in space. Stef Wade's clever picture book combines social awareness with astronomy, an unusual combination that works well in the case of the Pluto, the un-planet, especially in the guise of the usual social suspects in artist Melanie Demmer's clever cartoons of the in-groups of the solar system. Wade also appends an informational afterword, "What's the Deal with Pluto," that fills young readers in on Pluto's solar system history. Says Kirkus Reviews, "Make space for this clever blend of science and self-realization."

Ad Astra! Astrophysics for Babies by Chris Ferrie

He's kidding, right?

Why is author Chris Ferrie touting the periodic table while babies are still figuring out gravity by pushing their rattles off of their high chairs?

Ferrie sincerely believes that all that experimentation with falling bodies proves that humans are all born scientists, and in this just-published book in his popular Baby University series, Astrophysics for Babies (Baby University) (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, 2018), he doesn't hesitate to take his precocious tots and their doting parents ad astra, to the stars. You're never to young to begin, and Ferrie's lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek text begins with the ball, the basic shape of the planets and stars.

STARS LOOK SMALL BECAUSE THEY ARE SO FAR AWAY.

Ferrie explains atoms and how they combine to produce energy, which is source of light and heat and how they use basic elements like carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. He explains how stars collide and how matter forms. And he touches on how we ourselves are a part of all that.

THE ATOMS OF OLD STARS LIVE IN YOU!

With simple illustrations Chris Ferrie and Julia Kregenow introduce toddlers and preschoolers to the concepts and vocabulary of astrophysics, while their parents get a good review themselves. Other books in this series include the top-selling Quantum Physics for Babies (Baby University), Newtonian Physics for Babies (Baby University). and Ferrie's delightful science spoof of a nursery classic, Goodnight Lab: A Scientific Parody (Baby University) (see review here).

Ace and Place: Ace Your Space Science Project: by Robert Gardner and Madeline Goodstein

Once astronauts are in orbit, they float inside the orbiter along with everything else that is not fastened down.

Actually, astronauts at 200 miles up are still well within Earth's gravitational field and are not completely weightless. Instead, the astronauts are falling all the time, in the same way that the Moon "falls" around Earth. However, all the objects in the space vessel, and the vessel itself, are falling together, so they all seem to float together.

You experience free fall on a swing when it reaches the top of the arc and is about to change direction. You can get a similar feeling at the top of a roller coaster as it first starts to descend. At that moment, you and the seat... are weightless.

A competent science project book must contain several elements. It must describe the scientific method; it must teach or reinforce the process of designing and controlling an experiment to test an hypothesis and how to interpret observations, stressing safe practices in carrying out these experiments. And finally it should counsel the student in how to deliver the project in a satisfying presentation.

But a really good science project goes beyond these basic requirement: it messes with students' minds in a good way, taking common phenomena (such as the angle of sun throughout the year or the weightlessness of water relative to its falling cup) and intrigues and motivates the reader to try the concepts out for themselves in simple hands-on activities. Veteran science writers Gardner and Goodstein, in their new Ace Your Space Science Project: Great Science Fair Ideas (Ace Your Science Project) (Enslow, 2010) offer concepts and applications that can grab the attention of the middle grade student. Award-winner Gardner eschews the colorful spot art page design which characterize many recent science activity books, opting for solid, step--step conceptual material with ample and appropriately placed diagrams and charts, a style which, while less gee-whiz eye-catching, often proves less confusing to the student project designer.

In addition to demonstrating the concept of relative weightlessness with a leaky Styrofoam cup, Gardner and Goodstein cover many basics of astronomy, with activities all of which utilize common materials--building an astrolabe to determine latitude, a sundial, a sky clock, a spectroscope, a model of a solar eclipse which requires only a stick and a coin, and a diagram which teaches the "fist clock" which requires nothing more than two human hands. An appendix includes the requisite bibliography of books and web sites for further research, and index.

Other titles with high kid appeal in the recent Ace Your Science Project series include Ace Your Sports Science Project: Great Science Fair Ideas (Ace Your Physics Science Project) and Ace Your Science Project Using Chemistry Magic and Toys: Great Science Fair Ideas.

First Things: First Space Encyclopedia, edited by Coroline Bingham

The latest entry in Dorling Kindersley's noted First Reference Series, First Space Encyclopedia (DK First Reference), bravely takes on a REALLY BIG subject--space and what is out there in it.

Actually, more a browsing book than an encyclopedia, this volume utilizes DK's trademark spot art and a similar spatter-shot textual design which serves more to tempt and tantalize students to delve deeper than as a compendium of all knowledge. Not that any volume could cover all of space, but DK really doesn't even try. Rather, informational text boxes, paragraphs, lists, and a great many salient questions dot each two page spread, fulsomely illustrated with color photos, drawings, and diagrams. One recurring sidebar lures students into a "Curiosity Quiz" which reviews information already presented. Another "spot," a circular text box headed by "Become An Expert..." refers readers by page to related subject elsewhere, while another, "Weird but true" teases the student with fascinating factoids.

Although there is no traditional paragraph, section, and chapter arrangement with identifiable headings and subheadings to signal the interrelation of information presented, DK does divide the subject into major topics: What Is Space? Exploring Space; The Solar System, Comets and Meteors, Mysteries of Space, Space for Everyone, and a Reference Section with a full glossary and index.

In addition to coverage of telescopes, manned and unmanned space exploration, and varied hardware, the book takes on the "mysteries" of space--dark matter, supernovas, black holes, and UFO's. Discussion is given to the recent discovery of a possible Earth-like planet circling star Gliese 581, as well as the reasons for the demotion of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet status.

With astronauts preparing for extra-vehicular activity around the Hubble Telescope right now, this is a good time for students to become aware of the awesome history of manned space exploration thus far. For young readers who like to like to take brief space walks outside our earthly atmosphere, First Space Encyclopedia (DK First Reference), is a great addition to home, classroom, and school library shelves. And for adults like most of us, for whom science classes are well in the rearview mirror, this one is a great review of stuff we all probably once knew.