Reference Sunday: 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System

Growing up the only thing I remembered about the planets was the sentence we were taught to remember them.   It went something like this: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles ---Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.   Then a few years ago I remember feeling bad because "Pluto" was no longer considered a planet, which totally made my sentence obsolete.   In doing some research  for information about last night's "supermoon"  I came across this book from National Geographic about 13 Planets which intrigued me because I couldn't understand how we went from 8 planets to 13 in a short amount of time.   Luckily this book is a great way to explain to kids how this happened.

13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System by David A. Aguilar and published by National Geographic kids was just published this month.   It explains how Pluto came back into the planetary fold and how there are a few more just like it.   It groups the planets into different types and explains the history of their names and where they are located.   It also talks about the sun, astroid belts and the moons of each planet.   I found it really interesting and well written.   It doesn't talk down to a child (or a grown up who is science handicapped).  It is written for an older child ages 9-12 but I think younger kids can certainly learn from it too.   A great book to get ---- before the Astronomy community changes their mind again.