Ben Newman (1)

Flying Eye Books is an international publishing company, an offshoot of Nobrow Publishers. Nobrow publishes some remarkable graphic novels and non-fiction (I'll be reviewing several of these in the next month or so). Flying Eye seeks "to retain the same attention to detail in design and excellence in illustrated content as its parent publisher, but with a focus on the craft of Children's storytelling and non-fiction."

Normally as a reader, whether of adult or children's books, I'm focused on show more story. A good cover might capture my interest momentarily, but it's story that makes me stick with a book, that makes me love it. Nobrow/Flying Eye are making me rethink my criteria. Yes, story is crucial—but there are books where the visual magic is as significant as the magic of the writing, books that marry image and word in ways that create something neither form could achieve by itself.

Professor Astro Cat's Frontiers of Space is just such a book. Created by a PhD in Quantum Device Physics (Dr. Dominic Walliman) and an award-winning illustrator and comic book creator (Ben Newman), the book combines scientific rigor (on a level appropriate for younger readers) with delightful imagery. Every page offers a wealth of details. The written text includes compilations of facts, astronomical history, longer descriptive passages, and small asides. The illustrations are busy in the best way: clearly connected to the text, but with all sorts of small flourishes and surprises built in.

This is the kind of book that a grade-school age budding scientist can spend hours with. I wish I'd had a book like this when I was younger, but even now, when I'm well into my fifties, I'm absolutely captivated by it. I want to leaf through it again and again; I want to pore over every page. This is a perfect book for gift-giving and for opening up the universe (literally, the universe) for younger readers. show less

What an excellent, excellent, excellent primer for kids wanting to learn more about physics (and for the adult who may have had trouble learning about physics in elementary and high school). Great illustrations and easy to understand language make this a must-read for anyone with even an inkling of interest in science and the universe we reside in.

Less complicated than some of the other Astro Cat books, this volume covers how rockets reach space, the Apollo 11 mission, and the space shuttles. With only a few sentences per page, there is less detail, but the three year old was engrossed. The blocky pictures do not appeal to me as much, but the kids love them.

This book teaches kids all there is to know about the universe, and how to explore it, using a cat as their teacher. I think this is great, because in my experience, children take better to learning from animals than they do from people. One way to use this is have the kids take one aspect of the universe, planets, solar system, stars, spaceships, and have them draw a picture and explain how or why it is important.