This National Geographic Kids guide to the planets looks not only at the planets orbiting our sun but also at other inhabitants of our solar system. Along with the expected Mercury, Venus, Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, young readers learn about meteorites, Ceres and the asteroid belt, the Haumea/Kuiper belt, MakeMake, Eris and dwarfs. There are also sections on comets and the Oort Cloud, the end of our solar system, and other solar systems. An intriguing “Solar System in a Grocery Bag,” planet charts, and a glossary are also included. Full-color photographs, photorealistic computer art, and illustrations accompany the comprehensive narrative.

Highly recommended. ( )

Finally, the astronomy powers-that-be got it sorted and here is the latest information on the solar system. Pluto is back as a "dwarf planet" and it brought along its friends! 13 Planets is very well presented, copiously illustrated, and includes all sorts of cool extras. My favourite was "shop for your own solar system at the grocery store" shopping list. With the sun represented as a grapefruit, Mercury is a grain of salt, Venus and the Earth are two grains of raw sugar and so on. You can pretty much fit the whole Solar System into your neighbourhood, and then it turns out that the orange you bought is Alpha Centauri and it's supposed to be 2400 miles away. Sorry, I'm just going to say it's hanging on a tree somewhere in California! ( )

This is a great book that goes into great detail about our solar system. It talks about our sun and the planets that orbit it. It also goes into detail about the categories each planet falls under with explanation to why they do. Then it talks about the creation and history of our sun and how each star is a sun. This book is excellent for using in a lesson about the solar system because it includes up to date information about the sun and our planets, and has pictures of the planets, sun and moon as if you are looking right into a telescope. It really captures the essence of our solar system and makes learning about it interesting.