"Mercury"

Mercury
Written by: Larry Dane Brimner
Photographs/Illustrations by: Various
Published by: Children’s Press in NY in 1998
ISBN: 0-516-20619-2
Genre(s): Picture Book, Informational Text
Reading Level: Grade 2
Activity Level: Grade 2

Summary: This is a book about the planet in the solar system closest to the sun, Mercury. The book is written very simply for younger readers to provide them with information about this planet. It details the distance the planet is from the dun, its day (1,408 hours), Copernicus’ charting of Mercury’s year length, the old and new ideas about Mercury, and the possibly future missions to the planet. This book provides a wonderful introduction for students to Mercury as well as places to find out more information, and has a listing of important words for students to know.

Response: I really like how this book puts very complex information into a narrative that very young students can understand. I love that the book teaches about the history of the planet, the differences between it an Earth (in terms of days it takes to orbit the sun, etc.), and what NASA may be planning in the future.

The photographs in this book are great. I love how there are actual pictures of the planet from the Mariner 10 mission. I think young students will really appreciate these views of another planet and will be ready to indulge in the literature! I also love the pictures of the telescopes and other equipment in this book because I think children will be amazed by the technology, even in the world they live in!

Not all of the illustrations are photographs, some are drawings, such as that of Copernicus and those in the history section, however, they are strikingly detailed.

Teaching Connections: To use this book, a second grade teacher could read an introductory book about the solar system to her class to give them some background knowledge about it. The, she could put students into seven groups and give each group a planet book to read and study (obviously excluding Pluto, now not considered a planet, and Earth, because they should already know much about it). Each group will take turns reading sections of the books in the same series as this book and will then make note of the most important points about that planet that they learned. They will then make a short presentation to the class about the planet.

(Note: Since this book was published in 1998, the photograph at the beginning of this work of the entire solar system includes Pluto as a planet, so the teacher might want to make note of that before the students become confused.)

What Students Learn: From this book and the activity, students learn about the planets in our solar system, gain group work skills, have practice reading aloud, and increase their note-taking and presenting abilities.