Exploring Our Solar System - Hardcover

Ride, Sally; Tam O'Shaughnessy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375812040 ISBN 13: 9780375812040

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Five billion years ago, a starship passing through our region of space would not have slowed down for a second look. There was nothing to see. No Earth, no sun, no solar system. Nothing but a huge tenuous cloud of gas.

Now, as the result of billions of years of evolution, and centuries of scientific research, we can chart our way through the solar system . . . with Sally Ride as our navigator. Starting from the sun and working outward, Sally Ride and Tam O’Shaughnessy take readers on a tour of the nine planets and explain the formation, current conditions, and possibility of life on each.

Filled with crisp, full-color photographs and lucid prose, this comprehensive volume untangles the complexities of space and allows readers to feel like masters of the universe.

About this title

About the Author

Sally Ride became America’s first woman astronaut in 1983, and is now a professor of physics. Tam O’Shaughnessy is a professor of school psychology. Dr. Ride and Dr. O’Shaughnessy have been friends since childhood and have collaborated on three previous science books for children.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-8. In this copiously illustrated volume, astronaut Ride and educator O'Shaughnessy offer a thrilling introduction to our solar system. Although our neighboring planets were "formed at about the same time and from about the same stuff," the authors write, "they are nine very different worlds." Each chapter takes readers on a planetary tour. The section on Earth includes a time line and theories of the evolution of life on our planet. The authors explain facts in simple, straightforward language that doesn't condescend to a young audience, and the visuals include exciting images from space, charts that contrast the planets' properties, and artists' renderings of unattainable space views and imagined explorations. Throughout, the authors successfully put the planets in wider context, as in the section "Venus, Earth and Mars--Why They Are So Different." Useful appended charts, including a full listing of all space flights, add to the appeal. Visually arresting and clearly presented, this is an obvious choice for both public and school libraries. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0375812040
• ISBN 13: 9780375812040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112