NSTA Recommends
Mars: The Fourth Planet
by Michael D. Cole
Price at time of review: $18.95
48 pp.
Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Berkeley Heights, NJ
2002
ISBN: 0-7660-1949-7
Grade Level: 5-8
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Reviewed by Sherry Schaaf
Science Specialist
Mars: The Fourth Planet by Michael D. Cole is a concise, informative book suitable for upper elementary through middle school. Its solid factual base would also make it useful for research at the high school level.
The author follows the journey of the Pathfinder which traveled to Mars in l997. With the help of the Sojourner rover, this mission gave scientists a great deal of information about Mars. Actual photographs of Mars taken by a variety of probes will support the reader’s own discoveries about the surface of Mars.
My favorite chapter was the “Angry Red Planet,” which gave basic but interesting information about the planet, including how it was named and some of the mythology surrounding it. This connection between science and history that illustrates how sensational ideas and “bad science” can influence what people believe--the existence of Martians, alien invaders, and “little green men” are based on conjectures made by Percival Lowell about Mars in the late 1890s. Lowell theorized that advanced beings had built what he thought were canals seen through his primitive telescope.
Students in grade 5-8 will find this concise book very interesting and useful. A short glossary and chapter notes make it a good research source. The author does an excellent job of comparing Mars with the other planets, and includes a center double page of interesting Martian facts. The book also addresses the challenge of getting a manned spacecraft to Mars, what it would be like for astronauts to live on Mars, and what we would hope to learn from visiting Mars.
Review posted on 2/6/2003
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