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Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System
Did you know that on the asteroid Ceres you could jump six miles high? That on Pluto it gets so cold that the atmosphere freezes and falls to the ground as snow? Or that there is a volcano on Mars that is almost three times as tall as Mount Everest?
Join astronomer Alvin Jenkins and illustrator Steve Jenkins as they take you on an incredible tour of our solar system. Filled with amazing facts about planets, moons, asteroids and everything in between—and some of what lies beyond—this book will take you on a journey you won’t soon forget.
Join astronomer Alvin Jenkins and illustrator Steve Jenkins as they take you on an incredible tour of our solar system. Filled with amazing facts about planets, moons, asteroids and everything in between—and some of what lies beyond—this book will take you on a journey you won’t soon forget.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2004
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 1, 2019
I (personally) most definitely have very much enjoyed Alvin Jenkins' Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System (and just to point out, author Alvin Jenkins is a former physics professor and the father of well-known children's author and illustrator Steve Jenkins, who does in fact provide the accompanying illustrations here). And first and foremost, I do very much appreciate the clear, concise, exceedingly well organised, factually astute and enlightening narrative of Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System (ranging from the birth to the solar system to a detailed analysis of not only each the nine planets but also how long it would take for a human driving a car at around the speed of 60 miles per hour to reach each of them, that it would take for example 50 years to reach our nearest neighbour, the planet Venus, 90 years to reach Mars, but that to reach the outer limits of the solar system, it would take thousands of years).
However, and yes indeed, because Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System was published in 2004 and thus before the demotion of Pluto to dwarf planetoid status, the latter is of course still depicted and described as the ninth planet, something that I for one both appreciate and yes indeed also very much love, as I am still rather majorly ticked off that Pluto was basically "killed" as a planet, and although it might well now be considered scientifically in error, I personally will always consider Pluto as a true planet, especially since I have recently become aware of the fact that NOT EVERYONE is even in agreement with it no longer being considered a bona fide planet. But if you absolutely do want the most recently published, the most current information on the solar system, Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System is of course by nature and necessity of its publication date obviously not this, is actually if truth be told, more than fourteen years out of date (something to definitely consider, as for example, even with Pluto, Alvin Jenkins did in 2004 bien sûr not yet know that there is in fact more than one moon orbiting it). Still and nevertheless, I for one do think that Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System is a wonderfully enlightening introduction to our solar system, to the sun and its planets (and although I personally would have appreciated both photographs and Steve Jenkins' collage like illustrations, they do provide a visually stunning compliment to Alvin Jenkins', to his father's scientific but always engaging and interesting printed words).
Highly recommended (but definitely with the necessary caveat that both text and obviously also the very much appreciated listed bibliography will of course not contain any post 2004 information and details, something that must be taken into account but something that is also and always with regard to non fiction, first and foremost the unavoidable nature of the academic and intellectual beast).
However, and yes indeed, because Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System was published in 2004 and thus before the demotion of Pluto to dwarf planetoid status, the latter is of course still depicted and described as the ninth planet, something that I for one both appreciate and yes indeed also very much love, as I am still rather majorly ticked off that Pluto was basically "killed" as a planet, and although it might well now be considered scientifically in error, I personally will always consider Pluto as a true planet, especially since I have recently become aware of the fact that NOT EVERYONE is even in agreement with it no longer being considered a bona fide planet. But if you absolutely do want the most recently published, the most current information on the solar system, Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System is of course by nature and necessity of its publication date obviously not this, is actually if truth be told, more than fourteen years out of date (something to definitely consider, as for example, even with Pluto, Alvin Jenkins did in 2004 bien sûr not yet know that there is in fact more than one moon orbiting it). Still and nevertheless, I for one do think that Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System is a wonderfully enlightening introduction to our solar system, to the sun and its planets (and although I personally would have appreciated both photographs and Steve Jenkins' collage like illustrations, they do provide a visually stunning compliment to Alvin Jenkins', to his father's scientific but always engaging and interesting printed words).
Highly recommended (but definitely with the necessary caveat that both text and obviously also the very much appreciated listed bibliography will of course not contain any post 2004 information and details, something that must be taken into account but something that is also and always with regard to non fiction, first and foremost the unavoidable nature of the academic and intellectual beast).
January 18, 2010
Boston really liked this book. The artwork in the book is interesting and different from any other space-themed book we have read. The book is about all the planets, not just Neptune.
April 21, 2011
Summary: In this book you get to take a trip with the author and illustrator through space. You learn lots of new facts that we might not have known before.
Personal Response: Next Stop Neptune really put the solar system in perspective. For example, it gives students a more accurate picture of how big the sun is to the rest of the planets. Imagine the sun shrunk to the size of a basketball, Jupiter would be the size of a marble and Pluto would be the size of the head of a pin. Next Stop Neptune can really help put the solar system in perspective for students of all ages.
Personal Response: Next Stop Neptune really put the solar system in perspective. For example, it gives students a more accurate picture of how big the sun is to the rest of the planets. Imagine the sun shrunk to the size of a basketball, Jupiter would be the size of a marble and Pluto would be the size of the head of a pin. Next Stop Neptune can really help put the solar system in perspective for students of all ages.
February 13, 2017
I love Jenkins' collage illustrations!
February 29, 2008
pretty good and lots of pics!
September 10, 2016
Contains outdated information about Pluto at this point, but otherwise really solid and chock-a-block with the kinds of facts that will make your head explode. ("The gas at the center of the sun is so dense that a drinking glass filled with it would weigh 75 pounds.")
Really awesome mixed media illustrations.
Really awesome mixed media illustrations.
January 20, 2014
Notes:
lots of fun facts about each planet on a two page spread
lots of fun facts about each planet on a two page spread
September 12, 2020
I was expecting this to be all about Neptune, but it covered the other planets and space objects as well. I was a little disappointed by that, but the paper illustrations were cool as always.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews