The Silly Solar System by Kevin Price

10/10

Back in November of last year I had the pleasure of reviewing The Beauty Contest at the Zoo by Kevin Price, which I absolutely adored. At the time I said that his work was right up there with Julia Donaldson's and now another book, The Silly Solar System, has cemented this opinion.

Our Solar System's a wonderful place, 
A collection of planets rotating through space, 
With the Sun at its heart, its own glowing star- 
It's so far away we can't reach it by car. 
If we want to visit, then here's what we'll need. 
A spaceship which moves at incredible speed! 
Imagine we've built one of just the right kind, 
Blast off from the centre and what will we find?

The Silly Solar System is an educational ride through the cosmos accompanied by a witty rhyming narrative and facts and figures that were as interesting to me as an adult as they were to my 5 year old daughter. What we must all remember is that almost all children under 10 actually enjoy learning about new and interesting things (and what is more interesting than outer space?). Admittedly, trying to answer a thousand "Why?" questions a day can sometimes be difficult and tiring, but at this age age the enthusiasm of kids is infectious . I recently watched E.T. with my daughter and she asked a question, I would guess, every 30 seconds throughout the film. She loved the film and loves anything to do with space. She loved The Silly Solar System too.

An image of the inside pages of The Silly Solar System.

There is something in this picture book for everyone, be they young or old, male or female. Younger kids will enjoy learning about the planets and their names and older kids and parents will be surprised to discover the wealth of detailed and fascinating information in there that they were not previously aware of. And there is a very handy glossary at the back that made me appear a lot more knowledgeable than I actually was!

So I thoroughly advise you all to join the famous astronomer, Patrick McFuddy and his son, Jacob, on their poetic journey through our solar system.

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Each sale of this book supports the work of The Sick Children's Trust (www.sickchildrenstrust.org), who believe that no child should be separated from their family while in hospital being treated for a serious illness.

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And here is a sneak peak of the cover of Kevin’s new book Crazy Creepy Crawlies, which is out April 2, looks amazing and can be pre-ordered here.