Come To Tea On Planet Zum Zee by Tony Mitton

10/10

With its vibrant front cover and fantastically entitled book, Come to Tea on Planet Zum-Zee oozes appeal to kids. Written by Tony Mitton, his unique writing style captures the imaginations of pre-schoolers and school children exploring the world of outer space.

As aliens descend on Planet Zum-Zee for a tea party each brings their own mouth watering dish. Every aliens arrival is announced with their spaceships landing – with ‘zangs’, ‘clangs’ and ‘buzz buzz buzzs’ ’’ Mitton imitates the sounds of the machines through words and sets a scene for a legendary tea party. As anticipation builds and the excitement increases so too does the rhythm of the story, and then it slows as one alien turns up with a dish that looks far from appealing.

With the tension mounting all the aliens look sceptical about eating his dish and disown the monster – which as an adult even brings a tear to your eye! Until, one alien tastes it and announces “This stuff is yummy! Just give it a try!...It’s gloppy, it’s gloppy but it tastes just great”. The tea party gets in full swing with the alien mummies joining the scene.

The vibrant pages and rich text make this book a real treat to read. Tony Mitton uses his trademark rhythmical style to engage with the audience, making for a fun and energetic read. This magical story also has a real visual impact with excellent illustrations from Guy Parker-Rees – the wacky looking aliens are just as you would imagine.

Hidden within this gem of a book is a great moral for children not to judge on appearances – the blue little alien is accepted once his dish is tasted and the other aliens apologise for so quickly discarding his food.

Come to tea on Planet Zum-Zee brings outerspace to life for children - with platefuls of funny food on the table it’s a party every child would love to be invited to.