Author: Natalie J Del Favero (no website found)
Publisher: Amazon
Rating: WORTHY!
Illustrated by Orsolya Orbán.
This is another in a charming and educational series (the first one I reviewed was in may 2015) rendered suitably poetic for young children. This one introduces them to the concept of planets and to the possibility of life elsewhere. We meet planet Earth as a spaceship, which is precisely what it is when you get right down to it – a self-contained life support system moving through space and incredible speed – especially for something so big!
While we are all fortunate to be travelers on this spaceship, we learn also that Earth isn’t the only spaceship – the only planet. There are many more, only a few of which are in our solar system. There are also many planets out there which - in some regards at least - are similar to Earth. Is there life on those planets? Right now we do not know, but scientists are some of the smartest and most inventive people on this planet, and if there is a way to find out, they will sooner or later figure it out!
I read this on my smart-phone and had no problem enjoying the images and reading the text, so kudos to the author and artist for that. Often these things are tough to read on a small screen, so it was a pleasure to imagine how this one would look on an iPad or in a printed edition. The imagery is gorgeous and will fascinate any child, and the poetry is far from tired; it’s lively and entertaining. I recommend this as a fun introduction to the idea of planets for young children.
