The Planets

November 1, 2012

K-Gr 2-These books contain 10 simple declarative sentences each (e.g., "The Sun is a Star." and "Light travels very fast."). Such brevity allows only minimal information to be conveyed and there are errors. For instance, Outer Space states that, "Meteoroids are bits of rock," followed by, "They burn up when they get near Earth." While some meteoroids are made of stone, some are made of iron and some of a combination of the two. Not all meteoroids burn up. Those that pass through the Earth's atmosphere are termed meteorites. Sun begins, "Earth circles the Sun," but Earth's orbit around the Sun is elliptical, not circular. Many of the illustrations are also problematic. For example, in Earth, a sentence reads, "The Moon causes tides," but the accompanying photograph shows the Moon shining down on giraffes with no water in sight. A hefty price tag for little substance.

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