Dedicated to Alessandra Chapman for the space book.

Malie is a talking bird and he is on this page

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2

Chapter 1: Pretending 4

Chapter 2: The Sun 6

Chapter 3: The Rocky Planets 8

Chapter 4: Gas Giants 16

Chapter 5: Ice Giants 18

Chapter 6: 2 Dwarf Planets 24

Chapter 7: Moons 28

Chapter 8: The Travel to Earth

Chapter 1: Pretending

One day, Malie saw Mase on a cardboard box pretending to be in a rocket. ''I want to be an astronaut'' said Mase. ''Well,

 I found a magic green bubble thing that could take us around the Solar System" said Malie. And they went into the magic bubble.

Chapter 2: Sun

''This our first destination, the Sun!'' cried Malie loudly. ''It's our big source of energy for us humans and birds,'' said Malie. ''Did you know 1 million Earths could fit inside the Sun!'' said Mase. ''No!'' said Malie surprisingly.

Chapter 3: Rocky Planets

''Here is the first and smallest planet in the Solar System, Mercury,'' said Malie.  ''Wait a minute, what's that big hole thingy?'' asked Mase. ''The Caloris Basin crater,'' said Malie. ''I have a fact. Though it's the first planet from the Sun, it's not the hottest. I'll tell you what is when we get there."  "Hey Mal, did you know Mercury only takes 88 days to orbit around the Sun" said Mase. "Nope. That is really zooming fast!" said Malie.

''Venus is the hottest and also the most dangerous planet", said Malie. ''It's hot probably because it has a thick atmosphere trapping lots of heat.'' said Malie. ''Making it 860 - 884 degrees Fahrenheit.'' added Mase. 

''Oh Earth, so beautiful.'' said Malie. ''Snap out of it'' said Mase. He put his emergency brick on Malie. ''That hurt, but thanks '' said Malie. ''Hey Mal, did you know 75% of Earth is water and only 3% of it is freshwater'' said Mase. ''We're lucky to have Earth our home because it can support life" said Mase. 

''Mars, the red planet, but why is it red?'' asked Mase. ''Because it's filled with iron composed of oxide, AKA rusty iron '' said Malie. ''What's that white stuff on Mars?'' asked Mase. ''It's frozen water telling us there might be life on Mars'' explained Malie.

Chapter 4: Gas Giants

''Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar System'' said Malie. ''Hey, what's that red spot?'' asked Mase. ''That spot is called the Great Red Spot, a storm going on for 3 centuries or 300 years'' said Malie. ''WOW, that's long!'' said Mase.

''Saturn, the ringed planet'' Mase and Malie said calmly. ''Did you know that Saturn's made out of gas?'' asked Malie. ''Ewww!'' said Mase. ''Not that gas, gas like hydrogen and helium'' replied Malie. "Mal, did you know that Saturn's rings are made out of rock, ice, and dust."

''No'' said Malie.

Chapter 5: Ice Giants

''This planet is called Uranus'' said Malie. ''That sounds inappropriate'' said Mase. ''And why is that planet tilted like about 97-98 degrees?'' asked Mase. ''Scientists have a theory that an Earth-Sized space object hit Uranus making it tilt over'' explained Malie. “I think we should leave before we turn into popsicles since Uranus is -350- -370 degrees Fahrenheit” said Malie.

''Did you know that Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun making it take 165 years for one orbit'' said Malie. Mase shook his head. This time Mase said a fact. ''Did you know that Neptune is the windiest planet having winds up to 1,200 miles per hour'' asked Mase. Malie shook his head. ''I wonder why Neptune is blue'' asked Malie. ''Because it has methane in its atmosphere, and the same goes for Uranus."

Chapter 6: 2 Dwarf Planets

"Hi Pluto'' said Mase. ''I'm sorry the International Astronomical Union reclassified you in 2005!''. ''They reclassified Pluto to a dwarf planet in 2006'' Malie corrected. "Did you know that Pluto has 5 moons, Charon, Hydra, Styx, Nix, and Kerberos? Charon is the biggest and Pluto and Charon orbit around each other." "Pluto is such an interesting- whoa, what was that?'' as snow shot near Malie.

"That was a cryovolcano," said Mase. ''A volcano shooting ice and snow instead of lava'' added Mase. "That was scary," said Malie. "We should get out of here in case another cryovolcano erupts". So they did and left Pluto.

''Why are we in a place full of asteroids?'' asked Mase. ''Because we're in the Kuiper Belt'' responded Malie. “What's that big asteroid?” asked Mase. “It’s not an asteroid, it’s a dwarf planet called Haumea,” said Malie. "It’s egg-shaped probably because of its fast rotation, about 4 hours". 

"Wow, that’s fast!” said Mase.

Chapter 7: Moons

Triton

“This is our first moon stop, Triton” said Malie. “Did you know that Triton orbits around its planet, Neptune, in a retrograde orbit” said Malie. “What do you mean?” asked Mase. “For example, if Neptune orbits the Sun counterclockwise and Triton orbits Neptune clockwise, Triton is spinning in a retrograde orbit” explained Malie.

“So, you’re saying retrograde is a moon’s orbit that is opposite to its planet’s orbit?” asked Mase. Malie nodded. “Now let’s go to the next moon” said Malie. 

And they went off to Miranda.

Miranda

“Miranda’s the next moon” said Malie. “Why’s it so bright?” asked Mase. “Because like Ariel, it’s one of the brightest moons” explained Malie. “This one of Uranus’s moons and like all of the other 26 moons of Uranus, Miranda is named after the plays & works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope” said Mase. “That’s weird” said Malie. Then they left to Ariel.