Dwarf Planets: Pluto, Charon, Ceres and Eris by Nancy Loewen
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Pluto, that distant round thing out there past Neptune, formerly planet number 9, now number 10-maybe, or the un-planet- maybe. How you count ‘em is still up in the air!
Dwarf Planets: Pluto, Charon, Ceres, and Eris (Amazing Science (Picture Window))
There is a big disagreement among scientists and astronomers on the status of whether Pluto qualifies as a planet and there seem to be good arguments on both sides.
For young readers, 2nd to 4th grades, the author Nancy Loewen sidesteps most of the controversy, but does discuss the change in Pluto’s status from planet to dwarf planet. In addition, she tells the stories of three additional dwarf planets that were welcomed into the ranks as dwarf planets as a result of the redefinition of a planet made in 2006.
The writing is simple and short, taking up very little of each page. There are a ‘fun facts’ scattered through the book to provide additional information. At first, I didn’t care much for the style of Jeff Yesh’s illustrations, but looking at what he accomplishes with them, I came to find them very appropriate. He does an excellent job of illustrating the various points of the text, making concepts that might be confusing for a 2nd or 3rd grader very clear.
Just go to Laurel Kornfeld’s Pluto Blog to get a good pro-Pluto perspective. Laurel comented on my post on books about Pluto and the Solar System (and set me straight on a mistake I’d made). Laurel’s post does a very good job of critiquing the 2006 re-definition of a planet, I think, but it’s beyond young kids, I think.
Or read Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’ The Pluto Files: the Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet for the un-planet perspective. Listening to a radio interview with him is what sent me down this trail in the first place.
Title: Dwarf Planets: Pluto, Charon, Ceres and Eris
Author: Nancy Loewen
Illustrator: Jeff Yesh
Published 2008 by Picture Window Books
ISBN: 978-1404839595
