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Planets
Book by Justin McCory Martin
- GenresNonfictionSpaceScience
24 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Seymour Simon
330 books127 followersSeymour Simon, whom the NY Times called "the dean of [children's science:] writers," is the author of more than 250 highly acclaimed science books (many of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association).
Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.
He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."
Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."
Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.
In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."
Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.
You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo
Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.
He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."
Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."
Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.
In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."
Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.
You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 21, 2021
No, I absolutely would not really ever consider actively recommending Seymour Simon’s 2006 astronomy picture book Planets. For albeit that the author’s featured text does indeed present a thorough and sufficiently detailed as well as nicely interesting general introduction to our solar system and its planets (and also and thankfully never penned too scientifically, never too textually dense and as such possibly confusing for the intended age group, for children from about the age of seven to ten), the fact that due to its 2006 publication date, Planets still considers Pluto as the ninth planet and not yet a dwarf planetoid (even though said possibility is mentioned), this most certainly does to and for me mean that in particular for teaching and learning purposes, for introducing today’s children to the solar system, Planets is simply much much too out of date to even consider using. And while if truth be told, I personally have always been rather majorly annoyed at and frustrated by the demotion of Pluto from planet to planetoid, to now being considered akin to some of the larger asteroids, well and indeed, a non fiction science based tome that is clearly meant to be used for educational purposes, that is meant to teach today’s children about astronomy really needs to be as completely up to date as possible and Planets simply does not accomplish this with Seymour Simon in 2006 still designating and describing Pluto as being the ninth planet.
And while I do find the general marriage of text and accompanying photographs in Planets successful and that for 2006, Seymour Simon’s introduction to our solar system and its planets is of course also scientifically solid and sound, for 2021 Planets is just too outdated with regard to Pluto’s position and role, and I would thus and definitely not ever consider using Planets with children and for educational purposes, and especially so because Planets also contains no bibliographic materials, no listed books, no websites for further study and research, and which alongside of its datedness further severely, exponentially lessens and limits the educational value of this book, of Planets to the point of no return so to speak. For if for example Seymour Simon had included say some astronomy websites to consult, a teacher or a parent might have a child or a group of children read Planets and then consult the listed web pages to clear up any questions with regard to encountered outdatedness, but sadly, the complete lack of included secondary sources kind of makes this impossible or at least much more difficult and problematic with regard to Planets.
And while I do find the general marriage of text and accompanying photographs in Planets successful and that for 2006, Seymour Simon’s introduction to our solar system and its planets is of course also scientifically solid and sound, for 2021 Planets is just too outdated with regard to Pluto’s position and role, and I would thus and definitely not ever consider using Planets with children and for educational purposes, and especially so because Planets also contains no bibliographic materials, no listed books, no websites for further study and research, and which alongside of its datedness further severely, exponentially lessens and limits the educational value of this book, of Planets to the point of no return so to speak. For if for example Seymour Simon had included say some astronomy websites to consult, a teacher or a parent might have a child or a group of children read Planets and then consult the listed web pages to clear up any questions with regard to encountered outdatedness, but sadly, the complete lack of included secondary sources kind of makes this impossible or at least much more difficult and problematic with regard to Planets.
Displaying 1 of 1 review