Young Readers Book Club Book Review by the team
Katie Reviews~ Space Oddity by Christopher Edge
“Space Oddity is such a fun book and perfect for children aged 5 to 8.
Space oddity follows a boy called Jake and his embarrassing dad, who attend an adventure camp to help them bond after an event at the school play where Jake's dad embarrasses him. While completing some adventure tasks including zip lines and high walks it is revealed that Jakes dad is an alien, who crashed to Earth 12 years ago. Where after being revealed is abducted from Earth by the Council of Aliens as aliens are banned from Earth. Can Jake and his friends come up with a plan to send Jake to Space to save his Dad.
This book is filled with humour, smelly socks and music. Throughout this book David Bowie's Space Oddity is referenced which with the humour creates a great way of introducing music grownups have enjoyed to children. Space Oddity also introduces children to Doctor Who and Star War using these pop culture references as part of plot. These pop culture references don't have to be understood to understand the plot.
This is a fun space adventure, that is multi layered for entertaining children but also parents who may have to read along too. Space Oddity is filled with funny illustrations by Ben Mantle to help younger children visualise the aliens.”
Antonia Reviews ~ Scrap by Guy Bas
“I found this book to be an absolute delight, with humour, wit and robots what more could you ask for from a fun sci fi novel.
On Planet Somewhere 513 the robots launched a war against the humans who were coming to live there, with only one robot siding with the humans K1-NG… i.e. king of the robots. In this adventure we follow Gnat and her sister Paige as they search for K1-NG in order to help their mum who has fallen sick. When Gnat and Paige come onto the scene 10 years has passed since humans left the planet and were outlawed on Somewhere 513. With exciting robot upgrades, new found friendships, and a scary Mayor Highshine.
My favourite character was Paige, she has a lot of depth to her character as we have to solve many mysteries throughout their adventure. Scrap is the robot Paige and her sister come across in the scrap heap, hence his name scrap is chosen. He helps them to navigate their way through the city.
This is the perfect read for ages 9 to 12 years who are interested in space, robots or just adore sci-fi in general.”