Starred Review With large-scale, full-color photos of planets and spacecraft accompanying well-written, engaging text, this entry in the Searchlight Books: Discover Planets series (8 titles) offers elementary-schoolers a thorough introduction to our planetary neighbor. Beth's informative and descriptive sentences ("Huge tornadoes of red powder race across the surface") are wonderfully matched by the photos, which always relate directly to the topic at hand, and the chapters logically progress through the concepts. Not only addressing what scientists have learned about Mars recently, the slim volume also discusses the history of Mars research (such as ideas that have since been disproved), missions to Mars, and the potential for future missions, including specific challenges scientists face when planning for human travel to the red planet. Critical-thinking questions and inset boxes with fascinating additional facts make the already enthusiastic, approachable text even more engrossing, and "STEM Highlight" pages, focusing on a targeted aspect of Mars research, hint at the wide-ranging scope of the field. A thought-provoking, welcoming entry point to a perennially popular topic.

Beth, Georgia . Discover Mercury . ISBN 9781541523364 . Beth, Georgia . Discover Saturn . ISBN 9781541523395 . . Discover Uranus . ISBN 9781541523425 . Goldstein, Margaret J. Discover Earth . ISBN 9781541523371 . Goldstein, Margaret J. . Discover Jupiter . ISBN 9781541523357 . Goldstein, Margaret J. . Discover Neptune . ISBN 9781541523418 . Goldstein, Margaret J. . Discover Venus . ISBN 9781541523401 .ea vol: 32p. (Searchlight Bks: Discover Planets). diag. further reading. glossary. illus. index. photos. websites. Lerner . Sept. 2018. lib. ed. $30.65. Gr 3-5 Titles in this series cover the eight planets of our solar system. Images include photos of the planets and their moons, cutaway diagrams, and labeled illustrations of the solar system. The text discusses when each celestial body was discovered, the history of exploration by telescope and space probes, and plans for gathering more data in the future. Additional facts appear in image captions. Sidebars feature STEM highlights, such as the Voyager missions. "Looking Ahead" sidebars offer details on upcoming investigations that are planned and questions that still need to be answered. The text is balanced between people's early interest in each planet and what has been learned over time, while the images show various views of the planet at a distance and in close detail. VERDICT Informative and well illustrated, this is a solid pick for librarians updating their collections.