Venus

by Ruth Owen

Venus, our mysterious neighbor, with its wild atmosphere and clouds of acid makes for an exciting subject. Young astronomers will learn about its place in the solar system and its harsh surface conditions. Awe-inspiring illustrations will excite their imaginations and leave them wanting to learn much more about space science.

34 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Ruth Owen has been developing, editing, and writing children’s books for over 10 years. She particularly enjoys working on books about animals and the natural world. Ruth lives in Cornwall, England, just minutes from the ocean. She loves gardening and caring for her family of llamas.

There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. ( Ruth Owen, Romance Writer)

Reviews

[Sijal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before I started reading the book of Venus by Ruth Owen, I thought the title was very basic and it would be boring. However the illustration made it look appealing, so I decided to read it. Not only this book was a joy to read but it has a lot of interesting new information. It is clear that this is a non-fiction Scientific book with many interesting facts. If I were to suggest another title for this book, it would be Venus, The Hot Neighbor of Earth. This title could be more interesting and invite the reader to start interpreting many things that the book explains later on. Firstly, the reader can know that the book will be talking about Venus and how it is deadly and inhabitable by humans. “In fact, the pressure is so great that you would be crushed instantly. That would be, of course, if you hadn’t already been burned to a crisp by the temperature that is hot enough to melt lead.”(Ruth Owen pg. 4) In addition, the reader would also interpret that Venus is a very interesting planet to learn about, so it encourages people to read this particular book over other books. It starts by comparing the two planets and the similarities between earth and Venus, however, it also shows the difference and why it has no life on it. We learn that Venus has a very different atmosphere than earth, even though it is a neighboring planet and was created at about the same time Earth was created. To sum up, the title Venus; The Deadly Neighbor of Earth is an intriguing and better title for the book Venus by Ruth Owen.

The following facts are the most interesting information that the reader can learn. Firstly, the reader can learn how the solar system was created and how Venus came to be. It goes into a bit of historical background and how there was a huge cloud of dust and gas in space. Over time, the cloud collapsed on itself forming a big spinning sphere. It kept rotating and pulled in more gas, dust, size, weight, and gravity. When pressure and heat were added that spinning sphere turned into the star. This star is the Sun we know. The rest of the elements kept spinning and created planets, moons, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. Furthermore, the reader can learn that Venus is uninhabitable by any human because of its high temperatures. In addition, readers will get introduced to Venus by learning that is the brightest planet in our solar system. This is because it is covered with yellowish-white clouds that reflect the sun’s light. Lastly, the book explains how Venus orbits the Sun faster than earth, but its rotation is very slow. For example, it takes 225 Earth days to orbit the Sun and 243 Earth days to make one full rotation. Finally, Ruth Owen confirms that only NASA can observe Venus and learn about it since no human can go on Venus’s surface. One way they can do it is by using telescopes and equipment that use light waves and radar, however, they can also use spacecraft. “Venera 12, which was sent to study Venus’s atmosphere, survived the longest.” (Ruth Owen pg. 24) Venera 12 gave many pictures and information that NASA could use to observe and learn about Venus. As one can see, a person that reads this book can become very knowledgeable about Venus.

I would recommend this nonfiction book to those readers who enjoy science factual books or more precisely space, Earth science and planets. The book pages are colorful and it includes many nice photographs with small text and small paragraphs. It may look like it is a simple book and suitable only for lower grades. However, the information that is provided is quite advanced and even the photos are also complex and you need to study well and try to observe, analyze and understand them as well as the text to see the whole picture. Finally, if you want to get information for a report about space science or on the solar system, this book has detailed information about how Venus, how it was created, what is looks like, how we observe it, and many other important facts and information. In brief, people who like science and people who range from the ages ten to thirteen years old, or need information for a report will enjoy this book, but anyone could also read it and enjoy too.

This is an acrostic poem I have chosen to make.

VENUS IS ABSOLUTELY UNINHABITABLE BY HUMAN BEINGS
EXTRAORDINARY
NEIGHBOR
UNIQUE
SPACE

[Mahdi Essekelli]

Venus; although it is a short book, it also is a very informational scientific book that was put together by the resourceful author; Ruth Owen. This non-fiction book not only talks about Venus in general, but also gets the reader into the details of this mystical planet. Thanks to this book, the reader understands the basic properties of Venus: mass, weight, temperature and circumference. However, it also gets into the details and theories about Venus. Some examples would be the similarities between our world and the exotic, neighboring planet. In addition to basic facts concerning Venus, this piece of writing gives a heads up on the history of this planet and its discovery. “In 1962, NASA’s Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to Reach another planet and then send data back to Earth. Since Mariner 2’s mission to Venus, many spacecraft have orbited and even landed on the planet.” (Owen, 24). Lastly, this book, Venus, talks about the Solar System in addition to the interesting planet; giving background information on the topic. The first few pages state the way the Solar System, along with Earth and Venus, were created. As one can see, the resourceful non-fiction book Venus provides valid information about our neighboring planet.

Not only was Venus an enjoyable time for the reader, but it also contains information supporting the topic. First of all, this book is a non-fiction document about earth science. It is non-fiction due to the fact that there is no plot; it is just a pleasurable book containing information. Second of all is the importance of this volume. This is vital because it gives crucial information about the topic of space and of earth science. Lastly, while the readers read this book, there are usually questions that they have unanswered. Two questions that I had after reading were: How much money do people get when they discover planets? and Do astronoms like their job? Thus, this book in addition to being informational, is very joyous.

Although this book was a pleasurable experience for many readers, there are still certain qualities that the reader should have in order to actually enjoy this non-fiction text. First of all, Venus is recommended to 5th and 6th, for it contains simple vocabulary and text structure. Another recommendation would be to people who adore short books; this non-fiction writing contains a mass load of photographs, very few writing and a slight amount of pages. This volume may be simple, but for it to be read enjoyably, the reader has to have some liking of science; especially earth science. Keep in mind that without these likings, it will be hard to appreciate this book. Thus, to make sure that the reader actually finishes this book merrily, they should follow these recommendations.