Postcards from Pluto: A Tour of the Solar System

Gr. 1-3. Another book about the planets? Yes, but this clever survey of the heavens is definitely worth having on hand. In it, robot tour guide Dr. Quasar conducts a happy multicultural group of kids on a spaceship holiday trip that makes the fiery red-orange sun its first flyby. What's different about this celestial excursion is that Earth-bound postcards are allowed. It's through these hand-printed missives that most of the information is conveyed, with more delivered through balloon dialogues between Quasar and his eager passengers. As brief as they are, the cards evoke the distinct personalities of their senders (Lin's are poems; Ray's are rebuses; Eric's are little quizzes), and the cards' addresses are saturated with puns that will make older readers giggle in spite of themselves: Eric's postcard about Neptune goes to Mr. Trident, who lives in Ocean City; Ray writes to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sol Corona. But humor aside, Leedy never forgets her purpose, and that, coupled with deeply colored, dappled double-page spreads on which the heavens are laid out with a firm hand, is what makes this star-studded journey so very spectacular. (Bookllist )