Mercury

From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 4-- Simon adds two more titles to his photo essays on the solar system, this time on planets for which there are no full-color photographs. The large, nearly square format and striking use of white type on black pages help to maintain the visual excitement of the earlier titles. In Mercury , the black-and-white photos taken by Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975 are supplemented by a color photo of the planet in the evening sky, an artist's rendition of Mercury's surface, and colorful diagrams of the planet's revolution and rotation--although no mention is made of how its orbital eccentricity affects them. In spite of continous cloud cover, Venus is boldly depicted through the use of color-contour maps made from the 1980 Pioneer Venus Orbiter radar information and the red and white representations of Magellan's latest radar maps. Both texts offer clear, straightforward introductions to the planets. Dennis Fradin's Mercury (1990) and Venus (1989, both Childrens) offer more detailed information for young readers, as do Isaac Asimov's Mercury: The Quick Planet (1989) and Venus: A Shrouded Mystery (1990, both Gareth Stevens) for older students. However, the visual drama of Simon's books is hard to match.