TO PLUTO AND BEYOND

For Stephen Hawking, New Horizons signifies that "We explore because we are human and we want to know." This remarkable ship, no bigger than a piano, and using no more energy than a lightbulb, has already traveled three billion miles out to Pluto, and is continuing on to the Kuiper Belt, the farthest reaches of our solar system. The book will feature the beautiful, amazingly sharp photographs it is sending back from its journey, which are letting scientists fill in the blanks in our knowledge of Pluto--and delivering a few surprises along the way.

Elaine Scott tells the exciting story of everyone's favorite planet, from Pluto's discovery through the frustrating attempts to study such a distant object, the creation of the New Horizons project, scientists' hopes and expectations for the mission, and what is being discovered. Her clear, engaging prose does more than narrate the events. By showing how scientists operate, their hypotheses, hopes, and disappointments, and how they make use of them, she gives readers an inspiring portrait of the scientific method itself.
GROUNDBREAKING PHOTOS: These photographs of Pluto sent back by New Horizons, which are used throughout, are hundreds of times sharper than any seen before. (We own the rights!)

BELOVED SUBJECT: Pluto was everyone's favorite planet. When Elaine Scott told a grade-school class that it was no longer considered a planet, one little boy actually cried.

RESPECTED AUTHOR: Elaine Scott has written many well-received science books for children, including ones on Mars, the moon, and the Hubble Telescope.

IDEAL FOR SCIENCE CLASSES: The discussions of how the New Horizons scientists proceeded, what they hoped for, and what surprised them, give an excellent demonstration of the scientific process.

TIMELY PUBLICATION: After months in hibernation, New Horizons should be in the news again around July 2018, in preparation for its encounter with Kuiper Belt Object MU69 on January 1, 2019, setting the record for the most distant world ever explored.

Elaine Scott is the author of many nonfiction books for children, including Space, Stars, and the Beginning of Time (2011), an ALA Notable Children's Book, and Poles Apart (2004), a CBC-NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book. She was just inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. She lives in Houston, Texas.