What does it take to land a Rottweiler on one of Jupiter’s moons? Quite a lot, actually. Even a fictional sojourn to Io and Europa requires at least three authors, an illustrator, a handful of human reference models (plus a canine one), and nearly a dozen scientific and technical advisers, including a couple from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In the updated edition of Max Goes to Jupiter (Big Kid Science, 2018), written by Jeffrey Bennett, Nick Schneider, and Erica Ellingson and illustrated by Michael Carroll, the “grandpuppy” of the original dog Max from Max Goes to the Moon (Big Kid Science, originally published 2003, updated in 2013) and Max Goes to Mars (Big Kid Science, originally published 2006, updated in 2015) steps into his namesake’s space boots, both literally and figuratively.
Tori, the little girl from the moon and Mars books, is all grown up and leading the first manned mission to the king of the planets as its chief scientist. And little Max, who grew up listening to stories of his grandpa’s galactic adventures, is going along for the ride. While he’s a bigger scamp than his forebear was, his playful instincts ultimately stand the crew in good stead. Max, just like in the original 2008 edition of the book, is a good boy.