I Am A Tiger Karl Newson and Ross Collins

Ignorance? Bravado? Or just plain playfulness? What is driving Karl’s Mouse protagonist to insist that he’s a tiger.

Fox, racoon, snake and parrot in turn, challenge the small creature to prove himself but his lack of size, stripes and tree climbing skills do nothing to convince the others of his claim and that growl is – let’s say somewhat feeble.

And as for an “AH-CHOO!” our little friend strongly denies that identity.

But suddenly along comes another animal proclaiming to be a tiger.

The ‘not-tiger’ then goes on to try and persuade the stripy character that HE is in fact a mouse with some deft moves. These he follows with some further ridiculousness before departing in search of lunch.

This sees our little grey friend heading towards a watery place wherein he spies his reflection and there he learns the error of his claims …

With its wonderful surprise finale, this is a ‘grrralectable’ piece of comic theatre picture book style delivered through Karl’s droll mouse narrative and Ross Collins’ brilliantly expressive scenes.

Balloon to the Moon Gill Arbuthnott and Christopher Nielson

Rather than concentrating on the Space Race, this takes a historic look at the steps that began in the late 18thC with the Montgolfier brothers flight of a large unmanned balloon and led on to their sending a variety of animals skywards on a 3km flight three months later.

In the same year came the first manned untethered flight by inventor Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes who flew 8km in a Montgolfier balloon.

Hot on their heels came the first woman to do similar, the following year (1784). There’s a whole spread given over to this balloon bonanza.

The narrative then shifts to the first half of the 20thC with a look at some aviation pioneers, followed by a look at some iconic planes.

I was especially pleased to find some literary references on the opening page of the ‘rockets section’ where there’s a mention of both Cyrano de Bergerac and Jules Verne.

The author uses numbers in her selection of what she includes so we have, for instance ‘8 Rockets’ and ‘Into the Unknown 7’. The seven referring to the seven animals that became the first astronauts; and this chapter cleverly links these with an explanation of g-forces and their relation to fighter pilots and astronauts.

Much of the remaining part of the book provides information on the endeavours of the US and the Soviet Union to win the space race; and what happened thereafter.

In conclusion there’s a quick look at some of the new information the Apollo Moon flights gave us; what ‘space travel has done for life on earth’ and a final look to the future.

Christopher Nielson’s retro style illustrations are full of humorous touches adding to the allure of the book and the enjoyment of the whole narrative.

Where’s Mr Astronaut? Ingela P. Arrhenius

Vibrant, immediately appealing illustrations characterise Ingela P. Arrhenius’ latest title for the ‘flaps and mirror’ series in an amusing introduction to space exploration for the very youngest.

The space travellers hidden herein are a delightful mix of human, canine and alien with Mrs Engineer, Mr Space Dog, Mrs Alien, Mr Astronaut and finally, whoever happens to be looking in the mirror tucked beneath the felt moon flap.

This one’s sure to add to the deserved popularity of the hide-and-seek series.