"After a while Simeon came to the most beautiful planet of all. It is called Earth, and it is where we live."
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Simeon the Space Traveller by Thomas and Helen Dillon Trafford Publishing
book review by Caroline Blaha-Black
Simeon, the young space traveler came to our galaxy in his super-fast rocket ship to explore the eight planets of our Solar System. He starts with the exploration of Neptune, the first planet of the Solar System, continues on to Uranus, and then to the other planets until he lands on Earth. On each planet he learns something useful, for example that Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar System and that Mars has a red, rocky surface. On Earth, Simeon meets a little girl called Sam, and they take a ride on her bike before Simeon leaves. He finally lands on the last planet, Mercury, before he writes about our Solar System in his ship's log.
The book has an eye-catching, glossy cover, featuring the eight planets and Simeon in his ship, and is well-written and illustrated in full color. The charming illustrations feature Simeon in his space suit, his ship, and the eight planets. The book is designed to teach young children about astronomy and science (one of the authors has a physics background), and presents scientific facts embedded within an interesting adventure. At the end of the book, there are some pointers for teachers and parents as to how to create activities based on Simeon's space adventures, for example how to recreate a spacewalk on one of the planets. Thisd is a great learning/teaching tool for use in the classroom.