From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9?An up-to-date introduction to the solar system, illustrated with sharply reproduced full-color photos and paintings and excellent charts that convey a good idea of the relative sizes and distances under discussion. Dickinson's narration combines a conversational style with laudable accuracy as he describes planets, moons, comets, brown dwarfs, and the search for evidence of other planetary systems. A chronology of planetary exploration and tables of statistics on the planets and moons are appended. The book's only drawbacks are its small print; slightly cramped, three-column format; and gray bars behind page numbers that make them almost unreadable. Nonetheless, this is a good step up from Patricia Lauber's outstanding Journey to the Planets (Crown, 1993).?Margaret Chatham, Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library of Fairfax County Library System, VACopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 4^-8. This handy guide to the planets and major moons of the solar system features a more personal and enthusiastic voice than do most astronomy books. Acknowledging that sometimes children must "unlearn" before they can learn, Dickinson refers to a scene in The Empire Strikes Back in his description of an asteroid belt: "The hero, Han Solo, plunges his spaceship into the asteroids, jockeying it like a car in a demolition derby. But this image of asteroid belts as outer-space pinball machines, with craggy crater-pitted boulders jostling up against one another, is a total departure from reality." Excellent full-color photographs and paintings appear throughout the book, though it would have been helpful to indicate which was which in the captions, rather than to refer readers to the photo credits. Appendixes include a chronology of space exploration and charts comparing the planets and the moons. Carolyn Phelan


Midwest Book Review
This basic discussion of other planets will appeal to any child who dreams of life on other worlds: it provides assessments of the climates and conditions of other worlds, providing a strong visual approach to its beginner's guide to planets and moons. An excellent and basic guide.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What are other planets like? Do they have air and clouds? Water and rocks? Could we walk on the moons of Saturn? Are there planets orbiting around other stars?

Using colorfully dramatic but scientifically accurate illustrations, as well as the latest spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope portraits of other worlds, Terence Dickinson answers these questions and more in Other Worlds, a fact- and fun-filled tour of the solar system's 9 planets, their 61 known moons and the suspected planets of other stars in our galaxy.

Stand on the rim of a Martian canyon, watch solar systems being born, visit a sulfur-spewing volcano on Jupiter's moon Io (pronounced EYE-oh), plunge into the red atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan and gaze at the swirling surface of a brown dwarf. Travel with award-winning astronomy writer Dickinson on this gigantic odyssey on Other Worlds, his latest book for young readers.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Judy Katsh

With obvious knowledge, interest and curiosity, Dickinson writes about the solar system in this lavishly illustrated little reference book. Each article focuses on a different heavenly body explaining its characteristics, history, and relative interest to Earthlings using clearly written text, photographs, and diagrams. Space fans will find as much to like here as report writers will. The information is concise, up-to date, and well organized enough to please the researchers-and the tone of the prose is fascinating and mystifying enough to please those who like to sit back and ponder the facts, fictions, and fantasies of deep space.

School Library Journal