Book Reviews
Reviews of books for curious children. The ones that make a 9 year old lie on the floor reading for forty minutes instead of doing whatever they were supposed to be doing. Science books, engineering books, nature books, the odd bit of fiction that happens to make a child want to build something afterwards. I tell you what age it actually suits, not what the publisher says on the back.
If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty
This isn't a bedtime book. Thirty something pages of text, dense Steven Kellogg illustrations you could stare at all evening, a story that takes its time. If you pick it up at 7:45 when your kid is already rubbing their eyes, you've made a choice.
National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space by Catherine D. Hughes
A reference book for kids who sit still and want to know things. Not the ones who need a story. The ones who ask why and don't want a simplified answer. The ones who will come back to this on their own and read it quietly on the floor while they're supposed to be getting ready for school.
On the Launch Pad by Michael Dahl
Each page hides the number somewhere in the artwork. So once counting becomes automatic, your kid has a seek-and-find game built right in. You'll be surprised how many times they drag this one out just to hunt for the sneaky seven.
The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole
It tries to be a story, a science lesson, and a joke delivery system all at once. The surprising thing is how often it pulls off all three. Your kid will find new things on the tenth read. It's not a perfect book. But it might be the one that makes them care about space.
The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield
The book takes a big feeling that small children have and treats it with respect, without making it bigger than it needs to be. And it's real. The kid on the page grew up and went to space. That's the kind of ending children remember.
There's No Place Like Space by Tish Rabe
Most bedtime books wear thin after a week. This one keeps getting requested. The rhythm is good, the facts stick without trying, and your kid ends up caring about planets enough to get upset about Pluto on their own. That's a good book.