By Dr Dominic Walliman and Illustrated by Ben Newman
“Most of our big blue planet is covered in water, but how much do you know about what’s going on beneath the waves?”
It’s no secret that we love Professor Astro Cat around here! The combination of in-depth, specialist knowledge and gorgeous, retro cartoon illustrations make the Professor Astro Cat books rank highly in (and take up most of!) Mr7’s top ten books. It’s safe to say we’re huge fans – so we were thrilled when Flying Eye Books sent us a copy of the latest in the series to review.
The book is absolutely amazing – I genuinely don’t know how they manage to cram so much information in there, while keeping it so accessible for young readers! There’s everything from coral reefs to kelp forests to hydrothermal vents included! Plus zooplankton, food webs, legendary creatures of the deep and more! (Zombie worms anyone?! No, I’d never heard of them either!!!) There’s even bits about deep sea science ships and submersibles! It’s so comprehensive – yet everything is split into short paragraphs and bitesize chunks of information, to make it super child-friendly. And it’s very easy to dip in and out of – very helpful for stopping little ones getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of facts!
Mr7 has a special interest in both crabs and rays, so was delighted to see numerous species of them included and find out some new information about them. Meanwhile, Miss11 was particularly pleased with the double page spread on the Galapagos Islands – she loved watching the TV series My Family and the Galapagos (because the kids get to do REAL science, you know!), so was very happy to be able to find out a bit more about the wildlife there and join up her learning.
Professor Astro Cat’s Deep-Sea Voyage is seriously awesome! Even adults will learn a thing or two (presuming you’re not a marine biologist!), which I always think is the mark of a good kid’s book. The charming graphics are informative in themselves – and so colourful! And to say it’s packed with knowledge is an understatement!!! If you’ve got kids who are even the tiniest bit interested in something sea-related, they’ll love this book! I can’t tell you how much we’re enjoying it – if you don’t get it, you’re definitely missing out!!!
Thank you Flying Eye Books for our copy!
Professor Astro Cat’s Deep-Sea Voyage can be bought direct from Flying Eye books, and can be found at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
A Different Way To Go 