Get ready to Blast Off because we are going crazy for Space books at the moment and so are publishers! This year (on 20th July!) mark...

Non-Fiction Books About Space

Thursday, June 27, 2019 BookBairn 6 Comments


Get ready to Blast Off because we are going crazy for Space books at the moment and so are publishers! This year (on 20th July!) marks fifty years since the Moon Landings so there have been lots and lots of great releases of books about our galaxy and the Moon. Because there are so many I've divided them up over three separate posts: this first one of non-fiction books about Space and our Solar System, and then there will be two further posts - one with books about The Moon and another with great fiction titles about Space travel and aspiring astronauts.

In this post I collated six of the best non-fiction books we have about Space and our Solar System - some new and some older ones that we have had for a while. Hope you find the all useful!

First Facts and Flaps: Super Space by Lon Lee



Fun Facts and Flaps: Super Space is pitched just perfectly for BookBairn, aged four, as it's the perfect blend between simple facts, lift-the-flaps, turn-and-learn wheels and colourful scenes! Perfect for preschoolers and older toddlers who will discover the wonders of the stars, planets, the Moon and space travel in a fun, interactive and engaging way. The colourful, bright illustrations are sweet and charming too. With a giant fold-out ending, this book is a spectacular blend between plan and learning!


First Explorers: Astronauts by Christiane Engel



This First Explorers series (from a variety of authors and illustrators) are truly fascinating first information books. The illustrations in this series are absolutely brilliant! So colourful! But the part that really gets little ones engaged is the interactive paper mechanisms that they have to push, pull, slide and turn to reveal more facts or make, for example, the astronauts move or the rocket blast into Space. BookBairn can't get enough of these mechanisms! She loved them in the First Stories books too. And similarly they are super sturdy and pretty indestructible (four years and two bookworms later and they are all still in one piece). This Astronauts book is done in collaboration with the Science Museum so they are perfect for budding astronauts and little scientists.



Hello World: Solar System by Jill McDonald







Babies and toddlers will love this bright and vibrant book all about the wonders of the world around them and this one from the Hello World series will have them gazing upon the sky with wonder. It shares the very basic concepts of our solar system: the moon, the planets, the sun and the stars in a simple way that very young readers can enjoy, understand and learn from. And Solar System is such a colourful and joyful book your little readers will be so mesmerised they probably won't even notice that they are learning as you read!




Scratch & Learn: Space by Lucy Brownridge & Victoria Fernandez






Definitely one of the coolest non-fiction series we’ve seen! Through Scratch and Learn: Space you can travel into Space, discover the constellations and explore the Planets as well as take apart a rocket by using the clever scratch and discover patches. Each page explorers a different element of Space from the life cycle of a Star, the make-up of our Solar System and see inside Spacecraft through the 10 different scratch on each page. This is a great book for all ages - BookBairn loves it as she likes to find things, older kids would be fascinated by the different facts, and grown ups will find scratching the pages immensely satisfying! The illustrations are wonderful too and the facts are so interesting that I think it will stand the test of time even after it’s all scratched. After you've scratched them it's got a list so that you can use the book as a seek and find. Definitely a fun interactive one!



Life on Earth: Space by Heather Alexander & Andres Lozano






Can we first just talk about how cute these illustrations are? From the two children who explore and investigate throughout the book to the style of boxes of information arranged in a geometric grid that is a visual delight. And if you want to look a little further into that telescope and learn more about Space then this book answers over 100 questions about the topic. But what makes this book so wonderful? It is lift-the-flap. Over 70 flaps. Want to know the answer to the questions, you have to lift the flap. Such a fun and interactive way to engage little ones in non-fiction. I would say the information and style of these books are still a little complex for BookBairn in places, though she does like to lift the flaps anyway and is beginning to understand a bit more of this one now that she is four. Definitely better for 4+ but they are absolutely superb! 

Little Explorers: Outer Space by Ruth Martin & Allan Sanders






There are lots of great books in this series and we've had a few for a while but I think BookBairn has now grown into them! This Outer Space book also has lift-the-flaps and cool illustrations so she can explore the facts as she reads. I love the mix of interesting and realistic illustrations alongside more cartoon-y representations of the planets which will make them more appealing to little ones to learn their names and facts about them. The whole series really are great 'little explorer' books with lots of facts, life-the-flaps and fun illustrations and with so many titles there's a perfect book for everyone.


I hope you have found some great new Space books to add to your collection! And don't forget to keep an eye out for my two other Space blog posts coming soon!
Happy exploring!
Kim and the bairns x


Disclaimer: We were sent all these books free for review purposes by the publishers. Words and opinions are my own. If you click on the title or image of the book you will be sent to amazon.co.uk using an affiliate link. This means that if you choose to purchase on amazon.co.uk, I will receive a small sum (around 20-70p per book) from amazon at no extra cost to you. I understand that you may not want to use an affiliate link, but if you like reading our blog please just think of it as a small tip for a tip-off to an awesome book. And know that your support means I can buy more books! For more information check out our 'For Our Readers' section.


 


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6 comments:

  1. These books look great and are on a great subject. It sounds like they are more than just books with all the activities that are involved. I can vividly remember the first moon landing and can’t believe it’s 50 years ago!

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    1. Haha - I can't imagine the excitement of that moment. I think you would like all of these as a fact and a science man!

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  2. aaaaa what a fab selection. I'm actually going to be doing Earth and Space with my class in September! #readwithme

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    1. Perfect topic - so many great books about that at the moment. I love teaching Space!

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  3. Space is endlessly fascinating, isn't it? I'm really enjoying Prof Brian Cox's latest series on TV. I think my niece and nephew would enjoy all of these books. I especially like the idea of the scratch and learn book.

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    1. We have that recorded to watch too! Looks great!

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