BOOK NAME: 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System
AUTHOR: David A. Aguilar

I’ve read a lot books about the solar system, but this one is not at all like any of the others. While they teach in most schools that there are eight planets in the solar system, this book takes a look at 13 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars (the rock planets), Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (the gas giants), Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris (the dwarf planets).

This book doesn’t only talk about the planets, it also talks about the moons of each planet, the Asteroid Belt and the Kuiper Belt (a larger version of the Asteroid Belt). It also explains which planets and moons might have water and even how the solar system likely will end someday. (The good news is this won’t happen for another seven billion years, so don’t be too freaked out.)

I like how the book also tells the mythology behind every planet’s name. My favorite planet is the dwarf planet Haumea. It has the shape of an egg and rotates like a football being kicked off for a field goal. It is named after a powerful Hawaiian sorceress whose name is pronounced “Hah-oo-MAY-ah.”

The inside front cover of 13 Planets also shows what each planet would look like if you saw it through a 100x-power telescope, with the Earth’s Moon filling up the entire lens and Neptune barely appearing as the size of a speck of dust.

I would definitely recommend this book because it is a very fun and interesting way of learning about our solar system.

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