Planets by Seymour Simon

9. Planets

picture book with 24 pages

Nonfiction book annotation
By: Angela Wilcox


Simon, S. (2006). Planets. New York: Scholastic Inc.

Author Creditability: Simon does his research for his books all over the world. He has currently written about 200 children’s science books. The National Science Teachers Association has named over half of these books Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children.

Summary: This book takes the reader on a journey through our solar system. It discusses the sun along with the 9 planets (including Pluto) and their moons. It provides the reader with detailed information about the sun, our moon and each planet along with some fun facts about our solar system.

Most Important Access Features: The text in this book is inside text boxes set against a solid background color which makes the text easy to visually read. It also contains inset text within text boxes that contain fun or fascinating facts about a couple of the planets and our moon.

Description of Illustrations: The photographs in this book came from Digital Vision/Getty Images, NASA, Corbis, and Vision International. They were then transformed into 3-D photos. Every photo gives the reader a chance to visually see the details on each planet without traveling to outer space. Most of the photographs take up a whole page and are able to be seen with the regularly and in 3-D with the provided 3-D glasses that come with the book.

Grade Level & Uses: Grades 1-7; The lower grades would need to use this book as a read aloud, but they would enjoy the photographs and the interesting facts on the planets. While the upper grades could use this book to do their own research on the solar system and pick out the key points of each planet along with some supporting details for each planet.

Standards: Earth & Space Science.

Related Texts & How Related: These books could be used along with Planets to discuss the planets & our solar system. There are a lot of book about the solar system and our planets, these books do not even begin to touch on what is out there and available.

Our Solar System by Seymour Simon
Earth: Our Planet in Space by Seymour Simon
See More Readers: Planets Around the Sun by Seymour Simon
Stories of Planets (Dot to Dot in the Sky Series) by Joan Marie Galat
Why Isn’t Pluto a Planet? A book about Planets by Stephen J. Kortenkamp
Planets, Moons, & Stars by Laura Evert
The Planets by Gail Gibbons

Quality/Awards: In 2005 Simon was chosen for The Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Science Books from the American Association for the Advancement of Science Books.

Personal Response to Book: I found this book to be very interesting and very factual about the planets. I found it easy to read and believe that the students would have no problem using this book during a research project. I also loved the 3-D affect and am sure this would draw lots of students to the book.