Mercury

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

Originally published in Australia, this "New Solar System" series delivers the latest astronomical news through 2008, illustrations on every page, and lots of statistics. In five or six brief chapters, young scientists will learn about the planets and other heavenly bodies and the space exploration that provided the information. An attractive extra is a short explanation and illustration of Greek or Roman deities associated with the planets. In Mercury (pictured with wings on his heels and staff), readers are introduced to our solar system, while another chapter explores the smallest planet's revolution and rotation, extreme temperatures, atmosphere, and magnetic field. "Surface Features" shows photos of Mercury's craters, hollows, ridges, and flat plains; budding astronomers may not know that the craters are named for world artists like Beethoven, Vivaldi, Homer and Matisse or that scientists think there may be ice at Mercury's north pole. For those intrigued by space exploration, the author points out that Mercury is too close to the sun to be photographed by the Hubble Telescope, but many close-ups were taken by space probe Mariner 10 in 1974—75. (The MESSENGER probe will begin orbiting Mercury in 2011.) Clear, no-nonsense text moves along briskly, while illustrations (mostly in saturated colors on black backgrounds) are eye-catching; some pages with black-and-white photos and bordered in somber black or midnight blue seem less appealing. Further help includes a "Mercury Fact Summary," a glossary, and a list of websites. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Despite some boilerplate passages in the texts, plus the failure, in most cases, to distinguish actual photographs from the many sharply realistic imaginary scenes, these planetary overviews offer appealing next steps for readers of the relevant "True Book" (Children's) primers and their ilk. In Mars, Mercury, and Pluto, Birch positions each planet in relation to the others; identifies the space probes and/or other ways we have gathered information about it; discusses its major physical features, surface conditions, and moons (if any); and closes with a list of tantalizing questions yet to be answered. Stars, which focuses largely on constellations, seems to have wandered in from some other series. And even though the author compensates for the general lack of information about Pluto with an expanded discussion of its moon, the same digitally generated image of a faintly dimpled but otherwise featureless disco ball is used no fewer than 15 times to depict the planet. Despite these bobbles, and even though some of the information (particularly in Mars) is already dated-unavoidable, and compensated for by brief but helpful lists of Web sites in each book-these make worthwhile supplementary choices for collections supporting strong early science programs.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.