Life on Mars

A young space traveler lands on Mars in this latest humorous picture-book from Jon Agee, determined to find the local life-forms and present them with his gift of chocolate cupcakes. But his wanderings - in which he continuously misses seeing a massive creature that appears to be very curious about him - only serve to convince him that he is wrong, and that there is no life on Mars. Although delighted to eventually find a flower - proof of the life he had believed in all along - our young hero continues to overlook the creature that has been following him all along...

Like some Jon Agee's previous picture-books, from It's Only Stanley, in which a family dog builds a rocket ship to take him to the moon, to The Other Side of Town, which show more features a taxi ride to an alternate dimension, Life on Mars presents an amusing science-fiction story, one in which the young child reader/listener will find entertainment in being "in the know," when the main character is not. Although quite enjoyable, I did find that my funny-bone wasn't quite as tickled by this latest of Agee's efforts, and felt that it didn't quite live up to some of his previous stories. Still, fans of this author/artist will find much here to keep them engaged, with young would-be space explorers finding the story (and artwork!) particularly appealing. show less

A story about a boy astronaut who has just arrived on Mars in hopes of proving to everyone that there is in fact life on the red planet. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to find any, but it seems that something has found him.

Agee is brilliant, but you wouldn't know it from this book. The reader seeing things that the hero doesn't is a trope that was overdone centuries ago. And there's really nothing else to the story, unless you want to talk about the now-extinct fauna of Mars. (Note the sad expression on the Martian as the astronaut walks off with the flower, given that the Martian discreetly helped him find his way to his spaceship.)

A delightful read-aloud book. An astronaut goes to Mars to search for life. They (it's narrated in the first person, so gender is not specified) even brought cupcakes to share. But everywhere they look, they can't find life. The kids to whom you're reading the book will yell and shout at point at the enormous curious orange alien that the astronaut is missing! It's silly fun but, for those of us engaged in the search for life elsewhere, it's an important point that we can only find life where we look for it.

A child lands on Mars seeking life. He takes along cupcakes to share. He sees nothing but dirt all around him. He finally spots one sign of life. This book is all about the illustrations. We see not only the narrator's story but the reality of the situation as well. Great book for beginning readers or as a read aloud for younger children.

I saw a writer post about this on Twitter, saying it was one of the best combinations of words, art and tone he'd read all year. I ordered it from the library, thinking it was a graphic novel.

It's a kids book for beginner readers. I read it in about four minutes after grabbing it from the hold shelf.

That said, it IS a great children's book, with a rather delightful twist at the end.

I thought this book was really funny because the illustrations show something different than the words and the contrast between the two was really funny. I read this book with my daughter and son, who are in kindergarten and third grade, they also really enjoyed it. My sons eyes lit up when he saw the main character pass the alien and say “there’s no life here.” My daughter thought the “mountain” scene was hilarious.