Two in Honor of Earth Day

Next Stop Neptune



Jenkins, Alvin. Next Stop Neptune: Experiencing the Solar System. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Author Jenkins is an astronomer and physicist. Illustrator Jenkins is his artist son. Together they have created a display of the solar system that explains many facts even as it presents the known universe in all its wondrous mystery. Each page features an illustration of a planet, moon, comet or asteroid, along with insets that provide pertinent facts and figures. Readers can peruse one page to find the answers to specific questions - for example, how far is the earth from the sun. Or they can extrapolate from the given information to ask their own questions - such as how much would you weigh on the moon. 

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95




Hoose, Philip. Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2012.

B95 is a bird, a most extraordinary bird.  A rufa red knot, it flies each year from Tierra Del Fuego, at the southern end of the globe, all the way north to the Canadian Arctic - and back! That's roughly 9,000 miles twice a year. It is called a "moonbird" because in its lifetime it can fly the distance to the moon and back. Unfortunately, the breeding grounds for this bird are being depleted by both human development and climate change. As of 2014, rufa red knots were placed on the endangered species list, so their populations are being monitored. Whether or not they can be saved is another question. 

     In addition to beautiful photographs, each page of this book offers scientific information about the bird, its remarkable body structure, and its habitats. The book also profiles the work of some of the scientists and environmentalists working to save the species. Finally, an appendix, "What You Can Do," suggests activities and organizations for young people interested in birding and in the problems of dwindling habitat that so many wildlife species face.