Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 09/01/2025 In this fun, astronomical offering, kid-accessible examples convey the vast sizes and enormous distances of outer space. The text mostly consists of if-then statements (“If Earth were as big as a mouse, then the Sun would be the size of an elephant”). Pages feature helpful illustrations, including drawings, photos, maps, and charts, though not all are equally successful. Most readers will understand how driving a car directly from Earth to the Sun would take 170 years, or over 5,000 years to Neptune, but might have difficulty imagining Mercury as a softball and Mars as a ball used for shot put. Or comparing the size of our solar system as a quarter to the Milky Way as the size of North America. These quibbles aside, it’s fairly easy to grasp Earth as a soccer ball and Jupiter as tall as the goal, or the Sun being your head, Pluto your feet, and Uranus right where you’d expect. A glossary and references round things out. A great choice for school and public collections; expect some really interesting follow-up discussions. - Copyright 2025 Booklist.