Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids

by Seymour Simon

Whether they appear as distant specks in an astronomer's telescope or shoot brilliantly across the evening sky, comets, meteors, and asteroids have fascinated sky gazers throughout history. But where do these racing celestial bodies come from, and what can they teach us about our universe? Join Seymour Simon for a look at the fiery mystery and wild wonder of these luminous bodies of night.  This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 6 to 8. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children. Seymour Simon knows how to explain science to kids and make it fun. He was a teacher for more than twenty years, has written more than 250 books, and has won multiple awards. This book includes an author's note, glossary, and index and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards.

Genres: Science, Space, Nonfiction, Astronomy, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1900

About the author

Seymour 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

Reviews

[Hridoy Hoque · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent books for the very beginners about these 3 topics as mentioned on the name of the book. It's actually best for a school going kids. The pictures used in the book were much attractive. A kid will usually love it. Overall a very fine book for kids and for the beginners.

[Emily Isom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading and learning new things about space. This book was so informational about comets, meteors, and asteroids. You could even have students do a small science lesson to go along with this book. Highly recommend!

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great photos and descriptions of what these celestial objects are.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

In desperate need of an update! Pictures in it are as old as I am, lol.

Q2021 book.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very educational book

[Mahdi Essekelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is a short and resourceful non-fiction book by the smart author, Seymour Simon. Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids summarizes the three different kinds of rocks that we perceive throughout space. Not only does it give us information about the origins, the composition, and the orbits of these space mysteries, but it also tells us about the famous astronomers who helped to reveal the secrets behind the giant space rocks. Comets are far less common and more mysterious than meteors and asteroids; they have long, oval-shaped orbits that can extend even further than the edge of our solar system. The less rare comets, like Halley’s comet, are those that orbit the Sun in less than 200 years. These are called short-period comets. On the other hand, the rest of the comets can take more than a thousand years to finish their orbit! “In 1682 another great comet appeared. Edmond Halley, an English Astronomer, studied its path… he predicted its return in 1758. The comet did come back that year, and it was named Halley in his honor.” (Simon, 6) Nevertheless, comets have a reasonably simple composition; they have a core composed of frozen water and gasses, called the nucleus, covered by a layer of black dust. However, meteoroids are very different from comets. Not only are they significantly smaller, but they are also much more common. Comets can be seen twice in a century, whereas hundreds of millions of meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere each day. Furthermore, they are made entirely out of stone or nickel iron or both. Upon contact with the Earth’s atmosphere, they become red-hot because of the air’s friction and they are then referred to as meteors. The last kind of rock, the asteroid, is by far the largest of the space rocks. The biggest asteroid is called Ceres, and it is 600 miles in diameter! Although asteroids are big, they are not very populous; there are only thousands of asteroids in our solar system, and most of them are in the asteroid belt. All in all, Seymour Simon wrote the very informative book, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids.

The non-fiction book, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is a resourceful book that teaches the author many facts about the three kinds of space rock. First of all, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is a non-fiction book because it only possesses real-life information and real-life photographs. It doesn’t have any characters, conflicts or plot; it only contains the truth (what we believe to be the truth) about space. Therefore, because it is non-fiction, this book tells the reader many facts about its topic. Not only does the reader learn that comets have very long, oval-shaped orbits, but they also learn that comets can take more than a thousand years to orbit the Sun. Furthermore, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids also teaches the reader that about 100,000,000 meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere each day, and upon contact with Earth’s air, they become called meteors. Finally, the reader also learns about Asteroids, which are the biggest of the space rocks. Although Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is very resourceful, it also leaves behind many questions. What is the composition of Asteroids? How did the asteroid belt get created? Thus, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is a resourceful and exciting non-fiction book; however, it didn’t answer all of the reader’s questions about the subject.

Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is an interesting non-fiction book that I enjoyed reading and that I will gladly recommend to young people who have a passion for science. The reason why I adored this non-fiction book was because the information I learned when reading it was all about the original topics of meteors, asteroids, and comets. My personal favorite part of the story was the section about comets, which was because it was the most intelligent part and the part done with the most effort. My least favorite part, on the other hand, was the section on Asteroids. The reader can clearly see that the author didn’t put enough time and information into that segment. All in all, the author still managed to make the interesting non-fiction book, Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids. However, I don’t think I'm going to read another book from this author because his writing is too simple for 7th - 8th graders. For this reason, I recommend this non-fiction book to 4th - 6th graders and older students who don’t read much in their daily life. Furthermore, I would only recommend Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids to students who are interested in space and astronomy, so that they enjoy reading about the topic. As one can see, the non-fiction book Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids is exciting and informative, which is why I recommend it to many readers.

[Shelby Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great illustration of the next frontier- space. The illustrations really help with the words. However, I would not hand this book to a first grader and expect them to read it alone. The explanations of comets, meteors, and asteroids are put in such phrasing that is easier for students to understand, but mostly at the mid level age.
I like this book. I like how it is geared to a middle level group.
I would read this in my classroom, and maybe even have a little fun with crafts of comets, meteors and asteroids after.

[Rachel Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids" by Seymour Simon is a great illustration of the next frontier- space. I do not think I would just give this to younger kids though because there are some confusing parts in it. The explanations of comets, meteors, and asteroids are put in such phrasing that is easier for students to understand, but mostly at the mid level age.
I like this book and definitely recommend reading it to your children or classroom.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated, this book offers some basic information about space and comets, meteors, meteoroids, meteorites, and asteroids. The pictures are large and colorful, but a bit grainy and I can only imagine that an updated edition of this book would have far more impressive photos.

Still, it's an interesting and fairly quick read that is informative, but not overwhelming with details.

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 25259 EN Nonfiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: MG - BL: 6.4 - AR Pts: 0.5
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP, VP

[Tremayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was very informative and very awesome.

[Jessica Sommers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is such a fun book! This book about the basic information about comets, meteors, and asteroids! This book provides basic facts about each of these and compares and contrasts them!

My favorite aspect of this book were the pictures were in it! It blows my mind knowing that is part of God's creation!

This book would be great to teach for a unit on space! It would also be good for a younger class because it has a lot of pictures and big font!