My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were the planets of our solar system....until last year.

Last year, scientists decided that Pluto doesn't count as a full-fledged planet. That means that any of our planet books that were published before mid-2006, are a bit wrong! It's a good thing that a few new planet books have come out since then.


When Is a Planet Not a Planet? -- The Story of Pluto, by Elaine Scott, is the best I've seen so far.
Here we have a remarkably in-depth account of planetary science and the history of astronomy, a clear explanation of what we know about Pluto and why scientists decided to redefine it as a dwarf planet, and beautiful photographs and images.

This promises to be a gripping read for curious Middle School and Upper Elementary minds wanting to know as much as they can about astronomy, planets, and the world beyond our stratosphere. It's very attractive and very readable. The pages are loaded with solid facts and terrific trivia.

For a much simpler account of the solar system and dwarf planets, take a look at Exploring the Planets In Our Solar System, by Rebecca Olien.

Want to know more about Pluto? Visit our databases, like Grolier Online and Kids Search, from home or school, to learn more. [Go to our library web-page, scroll down to Online Resources, and click whichever you'd like to explore. See Rebecca for passwords to access the databases from home.]

Check out NASA's Pluto page: Pluto

Anyway, it's time for a new mnemonic device!

M V E M J S U N

Leave your ideas in a comment.

Owen & Mzee come to the library!

A few elementary students know of my love for Owen and Mzee. If you're not already familiar, let me tell you a little about Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship.

Three years ago, when a big tsunami hit Malindi, Kenya, a baby hippo lost his mother. Naturalists found the baby, whom they named Owen, and brought him to a sanctuary for animals.
Owen, the hippo baby, wandered until he found Mzee, a 130 year old, grumpy tortoise. (Yes! 130 years old!) Owen started following Mzee. Much to the surprise of the naturalists and zoologists, Mzee didn't seem to mind. In fact, it looked as though Owen had chosen Mzee to be his parent, and Mzee had adopted Owen as his own. They walk about together, swim together, eat together, and even nuzzle each other.
If you find that hard to believe, you'll want to check out this book. The pictures are great!

A few days ago, Sophie, a big Owen & Mzee fan herself, gave the library a fantastic gift! She spotted these little guys, and knew that they belonged in our library. I agree--welcome Owen & Mzee!




Trivia: "Mzee" means "wise old man" in Swahili.

An Egg Is Quiet

This might be my favorite book in the whole school, right now. An Egg Is Quiet, by Diannna Aston and illustrated by Sylvia Long, is a non-fiction picture book all about eggs. It tells you about all the different animals that have eggs, how animals take care of their eggs, shows what's inside eggs, and finally what comes out of eggs!

I could look at it for hours.

Did you know that ostrich eggs can weigh up to 8 pounds, while hummingbird eggs are as tiny as jellybeans?!

My favorite page is about how colorful eggs are--it shows all of these eggs, from birds and fish and bugs, laid out in a rainbow. Really amazing! Sylvia Long is one talented artist!

It's still at my desk, instead of on the shelves, because I like looking at it all the time! Come see it and take it home.