Poor Mars' planetary siblings are too busy to play with him, and solar dad won't get him a pet (I mean, they already have Pluto). Luckily, his sister Earth sends over some rovers for Mars to play with.

Divided opinion in my house, some liked the sense of fun and others railed at the lack of scientific accuracy. All were charmed by Pluto. ( )

Most of the science in the book is general; specific information included in endnotes ( )

The concept is the same as the author's earlier book "Moon's first friends," but she's chosen the Mars Exploration Rovers to stand for Mars' first friends, when they were not the first missions, nor the first landers, nor even the first rovers on Mars. I found it odd that the book picked such a specific mission to be the "first" when it was not actually the first. It's a fine story book, but derivative of "Moon's First Friends" and less accurate. ( )