Nearest to the Sun: The Planet Mercury

by Nancy Loewen, Jeffrey Yesh (Illustrator)

Overview

Mercury is the smallest planet, but it has the biggest craters, the biggest temperature swings, and the biggest sunrises in the solar system. Explore the planet's many wonders in this book about Mercury.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781404839540
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	01/01/2008
Series:	Amazing Science: Planets Series
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.31(d)
Lexile:	IG790L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She’s published more than 140 books for children and young adults. The LAST Day of Kindergarten and Four to the Pole (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her Writer’s Toolbox series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. Nancy has also received awards from The American Library Association, the New York Public Library, and the Society of School Librarians International.

Nancy lives in St. Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She likes to read, cook, take long walks, and photograph oddities from thrift stores. Please visit her website at nancyloewen.net.

Table of Contents

A Strange Sunrise     4
The Fastest Planet     6
Spinning Slowly     8
A Bare Planet     10
Hot and Cold     12
The Smallest Planet     14
Crater City     16
A Big Hole     18
Much to Discover     20
Making Craters     22
Fun Facts     23
Glossary     23
To Learn More     24
Index     24

Editorial Reviews

With its large square pages and poster-bright pictures, the “Amazing Science: Planet” series is designed to have maximum visual appeal for young space explorers. It largely succeeds, presenting quite a bit of information about each planet in nine double-page spreads (liberally sprinkled with “Fun Facts” boxes) that show sizes, composition, surfaces, orbits, rotations, and something about each planet’s exploration. Readers are introduced to Mercury through an imaginary sunrise on that planet. The sunrise is very erratic because it is so close to the sun. Through both pictures and text, the book explains Mercury’s slow rotation and fast orbit, its extraordinary range of temperatures, and its deeply cratered surface. While this smallest planet is hard to observe because of its position, kids will learn that one spacecraft flew by it in the 1970s and a new one, MESSENGER, is scheduled to orbit it in 2011. Suggesting flat acrylic paintings, Yesh’s illustrations are actually created through digital media. Though not realistic in style, their brilliant colors on dark backgrounds make them eye-catching, often glowing, and sometimes action-filled, as in a depiction of Mercury’s huge Caloris Basin being formed. Loewen provides directions for a simple science project that involves making craters by using a rubber ball and trays of sand or flour. Included are a glossary, a short bibliography of children’s books about the planet, and a few more facts about Mercury, such as that it does not have any moons. This lively series should be fun for budding astronomers; who knows, it might even inspire some planetary poetry or astronomical art.

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