Astronauts, astro-dogs and lots of hidden learning! (My Space Adventure)

Member Name: Ann-Marie_B

Product:	My Space Adventure
Date:	03/06/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of educational activities, sparkling foil elements

Disadvantages: None

Although just one and a half my son already has some fantastic and unusual books in his vast collection. I am slowly reviewing these one by one although the end is not in sight just yet! One of his recent additions to his book collection is My Space Adventure Sparkle Book.

My Space Adventure is an offering from Little Ticktock books, though there is no stated author on the book itself. It is currently available at £4.99 from Amazon.

This book has a very boyish appearance with its cover depicting an astronaut and his dog standing next to a space rocket on what looks like the moon. It is a board book with thick cardboard pages making it ideal for younger children and also easily cleaned if need be. This book is of average size and not oversized as many young children's books tend to be.

What makes My Space Adventure Sparkle Book different from other books is the sparkly features on the illustrations throughout. The illustrations have cut out areas and situated underneath is a holographic foil in both gold and silver. This is maybe similar to the touch and feel type books there are available and my little boy certainly loves to feel the crinkly, sparkling foil as we read through the story.

My Space Adventure, just like the other Sparkle Books in the series, is full of educational exercises for young children to take part in. On the first page for instance we are shown a large picture of an astronaut getting ready to take off in his space rocket. To the left hand side of the page are three illustrations and we are asked to find these illustrations in the bigger picture.

Further on in the book we are asked to count down from 10 as the rocket takes off into space. We are then shown planets in different colours with the colour depicted next to them and we are asked to name the colours of the shooting stars at the foot of the page.

Moving towards the end we are shown groups of planets, stars and astronauts and asked how many there are of each. There is also a spot the difference game on the very last page. There is certainly a lot of educational content squeezed into this book which surprisingly has just five pages.

The book states that it teaches spotting and picture recognition activities, early learning fun with colours, counting practice and first words. This is therefore clearly a beneficial book to have in any young child's collection and they will learn those skills to greater effect as they grow older.

This is a fantastic little book which has the benefit of teaching essential skills while still having that fun element. The sparkling foil in the illustrations throughout will easily grab a young child's attention and keep them enthralled as they learn. This is also a great interactive tool for parent and child as the exercises can be undertaken together. This is a valuable addition to my sons collection and at £4.99 it is most certainly worth purchasing.

ISBN: 978-1846963018

Summary: Astronauts, astro-dogs and lots of hidden learning!