Hi Sierra,
This is actually a quite controversial topic. There are some scientists who argue that Pluto and the other large bodies recently discovered in our solar system are not planets. The reason why some people argue that these objects are not planets is that scientists have generally grouped the planets into two categories: terrestrial planets and Jovian planets. This division was made based upon the overall sizes and masses, densities, and compositions of the planets in our solar system. The terrestrial planets are relatively small, rocky bodies that orbit close to the Sun. The terrestrial planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The Jovian planets are enormous, gaseous bodies composed of mainly hydrogen and helium that orbit far away from the Sun. The Jovian planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. We don't know a whole lot about Pluto, but most scientists will agree that it is definitely not a Jovian planet. Unfortunately, Pluto does not exactly fit into the same category as the terrestrial planets either.
There is now evidence that Pluto may actually belong to a class of solar system bodies known as Kuiper Belt objects. The Kuiper Belt is a region just beyond the orbit of Neptune, extending from about 30 to 50 AU from the Sun, that is filled with many icy objects. At distances even further away from the Sun, there is another region of icy objects called the Oort Cloud. Comets may come from both the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. In many ways, Pluto is more like the objects in the Kuiper Belt than it is like any of the other planets, which has caused some people to argue that Pluto is not really a planet. The objects you may have heard about in recent news stories about the discovery of "new planets" in our solar system most likely fall into the categories of Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud objects. The confusion and controversy over what should be called a planet has arisen because some of these newly discovered objects may be even bigger than Pluto. Scientists still don't really agree on how to classify them, but we are making progress.
Kris