Sign in Subscribe

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.

The Magic School Bus Lost science for curious kids

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.