Penny was feeling sad. All the kids in her class wanted to play with toys during playtime, but she wanted to write in her science notebook.

Penny didn't have any friends who shared her interest in science, so she kept it to herself. Instead she would go into her backyard everyday and observe what she saw.



"Humm... I wonder why the moon looks different on different days?", Penny thought to herself.

One day, when Penny was looking at the moon she was surprised when her neighbor Ben walked into her backyard.

"Are you making observations of the moon?", Ben asked.

"Umm...", Penny said, feeling shy.

"I do the same thing! I love the moon!", Ben exclaimed.

"Whoa! I never knew anybody liked the moon besides me!", Penny said joyfully.

"The moon is the best! I can show you it if you'd like!", Ben offered kindly.

"Really! How?", Penny asked.

"I can fly, and I can take us all the way to the moon!", Ben said.

"Whoa, that's so cool! Let's go!", Penny said.

Penny made sure to bring her notebook and pencil with her to take observations. She held on to Ben's hand and together they flew to the moon.

When Penny and Ben got to space she was shocked!

"Whoa! Half of the moon is dark!" Penny said.

"Yeah, isn't the view amazing from here?" Ben asked.

"The part of the moon that is facing the Sun is bright and the part of the moon that isn't is dark!" Penny noticed.

As they flew around, Penny was surprised at what she saw.

"The moon looks so different when we are closer or further away from the Sun. Is that why the moon looks different at different times on Earth?" Penny asked Ben.

"Yeah! When the Earth rotates around the Sun sometimes it is closer to the Sun so we can see all or most of the moon. But when the Earth is further away from the Sun, we can only see part of the Moon or none at all." Ben told Penny.