Where’s Jupiter?
A lot of children's books that feature a night sky include illustrations of various planets. Of course, these are exaggerated views and often the objects are "planet-like" variations of objects from our own solar system.
One planet, however, stands out: Saturn. Saturn (or a Saturn-like planet) is in almost every illustration of the night sky I've seen in a children's book. Of course, its distinctive rings make it an easy visual target.
Every once in a while, a book renders Saturn fairly well, and even manages to include other fairly-accurate representations of other planets. In our house, this book is "Where is Coco Going?" by Sloane Tanen.
This is a popular bed-time book in our house, and since before he was 2, Nate has known that the illustrations on a particular page are of Saturn and Jupiter (which he pronounces "Jupiper").
But if we're reading another book that also features some sort of night-sky illustration, inevitably there is a Saturn-like object but no clear Jupiter (if there's another planet at all). And Nate immediately asks: "Where's Jupiper?"
I cannot fully express to you how much joy it brings to my heart to hear him ask this question. Watching his development and growth has been (and continues to be) nothing short of astonishing.
