ALBERT HOPPER, SCIENCE HERO

Junior Science Heroes Polly and Tad join Uncle Albert in a tour of the local astronomical pond.

Fresh from exploring the Earth’s inward reaches in the series opener (2020), the three intrepid frog explorers hop aboard a rocket headed for the acid clouds of Venus and Mercury’s extremes of hot and cold. “From there,” Albert proclaims with characteristic grandiloquence, “we blast our way to…the VERY SUN ITSELF!” “Won’t we melt?” asks timorous Tad. “We’ll find out in two more chapters.” Spoiler alert: They don’t melt (unlike their fuel stores of “frozen dihydrogen monoxide,” i.e., water). In a rollicking tumble of narrow squeaks and basic science facts the voyage continues past planets and select moons all the way out to the Kuiper belt and back. Almost back, that is—thanks to an easily confused autopilot. (Tad: “Has the autopilot ever actually worked?” Albert: “Someday!” Ted: “I don’t think you answered my question.” Polly: “No, I think he did.”) Their unscheduled landing on the moon leaves the trio marveling at the view of a “big, beautiful blue planet called Earth.” The thick-lined cartoons on nearly every well-leaded page aren’t much for fine detail, but they do reflect the tongue-in-cheek tone. By way of a recap Polly and Tad add, respectively, personal notes and drawings at the end.

A ribbet-tickling roundabout for armchair astronauts and Magic School Bus grads.