Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space – Dominic Walliman & Ben Newman

‘Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space’ by Dominic Walliman and Ben Newman is a perfect book if your child’s enthusiasm for space has suddenly developed with our very own astronaut Tim Peake jetting off to the International Space Station (ISS). This fantastic book takes you on a journey across space spanning the universe, stars, planets It also looks at practical aspects of space travel from rockets to space suits and even has pages devoted to life aboard the ISS with just enough detail to satisfy the curiosity of any child.

Me and my girls shared this book alongside the Professor Astro Cat App which compliment each other perfectly. As a school librarian I have encountered many Space books but this once really captured my attention straight away. The design, layout and illustrations are sublime and really striking. It feel more like a Picture Book than an Information book and is stunningly presented in such a way that you are drawn to opening up this book and delving in to find out more. It tackles quite complex subjects but presents them in a format which manages to make it easily accessible and enjoyable for children to learn new facts. This book is a truly exceptional information book which we thoroughly enjoyed reading together as a family.

After sharing this gorgeous book we decided to road test the App and see what we all thought of it, the girls enjoyed testing out their knowledge through the jetpack challenge to see how much they had learned and they are rewarded with medals which allow them to build a spaceship. They were both absorbing the facts and enjoying the game, completely unaware of all the new information they were learning.

You can watch a trailer of the App by following the link below:

https://youtu.be/LTZVGtx9-tc

I highly recommend the book and the App they both have so much information, you will keep going back to find out more. There is another book in the series due out in March 2016 ‘Professor Astro Cat’s Atomic Adventure’.