A Day at the Space Museum

Produced as if you are reading your way through a museum the pop-ups are brilliant at displaying the enormity of the world around us. All the stars, wonderful pull outs of the moon's waxing and waning, the planets. a gorgeous star chart and a taster page about space exploration. It's a wonderful book, hugely interactive and informative too. * Angels and Urchins *
I tend to approach pop-up books with caution, not just because they can be rather fragile, but also because the pop-up feature can sometimes be little more than gimmick. But with A Day at the Space Musuem that's not the case. The pop-ups and pull tabs genuinely teach you about space in various fun and ingenious ways. The book has seven very colourful pop-up spreads illustrated by Josh Lewis, covering topics such as the Solar System, cosmic explosions, the Milky Way and other galaxies supernovae, nebulae, black holes, a history of space travel and living on mars. The bold illustrations are very clear, and i can personally verify that the mechanics of the 3D structures are sturdy enough to withstand the attention of a two-year-old! As you would expect with a pop-up book, with a very thick, multi-layered pages the total amount of content is relatively limited compared to its thickness, nut the book uses the space wisely. There are sections that fold out to reveal the Universe in a range of scales, and mini-books about important figures in astronomy. Meanwhile, little rotating wheels demonstrate the phases of the Moon or the stages of terraforming required to make Mars habitable. The content is largely approachable for a younger reader (perhaps a keen eight-to-ten-year-old), though slightly older readers might find some concepts more accessible. Overall, this is a very well-designed book that will keep its audience interested as they explore the 'space musuem'. * Sky at Night *