A Day With No Crayons

January 1, 2008
Gr 2-4-This somewhat fictionalized profile introduces readers to Caltech planet hunter Michael E. Brown, who is followed from messy childhood experiments with mud craters in his backyard to his revolutionary discovery of Eris, Sedna, and other transplutonian members of our solar system. Leaving room in the corners for fact boxes about each newly found object, Francis casts him in the cartoon illustrations as a smiling, wide-eyed lad (later man) in casual dress, working (alone, seemingly) with telescopes and PCs in his years-long search, standing nervously to witness the official vote that redefined "planet" in 2006 ("Mike smiled. Astronomers had fixed a mistake. Science had progressed!"), then on the closing pages posing with children who just might go on to make astronomical discoveries of their own. Though there is no indication that Rusch ever actually spoke with her subject, this biography covers new ground for young readers and, packaged with a peel-off miniposter of the "new" solar system, makes an inspiring, energizing addition to any collection."John Peters, New York Public Library"

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