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BOOK REVIEW: Don’t Spew in Your Spacesuit by Tim Miller and Matt Stanton

| 21 November 2017 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Don’t Spew in Your Spacesuit by Tim Miller and Matt Stanton

ABC Books
October 2017
Hardcover, $24.99
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

Picture Books / Humour

3/10

In a galaxy of gastro not so far away …

Is there life on Mars? One little spaceman is determined to find out.

Only no one told him that space travel can make you queasy. Can his stomach stop lurching from side to side long enough to solve the mystery?

 

The creators of There Is a Monster Under My Bed Who Farts, Dinosaur Dump and The Pirate Who Had To Pee have had some success with their formula in the past, and space and the exploration thereof have become increasingly popular in recent times, so surely the two would be a winning combo?

Unfortunately there’s something missing from this one, at least as far as this reader is concerned.

The illustrations are probably the best part of this book, and are engaging and bright though at times a little overly simplistic.

The problems begin with the rhyming text which is just ever-so-slightly off, making it difficult to get into a proper rhythm when reading aloud to children.

But beyond that it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, scientifically speaking.

Perhaps it is pedantic to expect scientific accuracy from a children’s picture book, but there are those that do it well.

Perhaps it’s pedantic to expect scientific accuracy from a humorous children’s picture book, but this one just strays too far from reality for this space-mad reviewer to recommend to children in good conscience.

Beyond the obvious plot hole that real astronauts are trained and tested before being sent into space, which would render this story moot, there were a few other issues:

  • “The spacecraft hits an astronaut. It goes into a spin.” Because yeah, that’s how space collisions work.
  • The astronaut leaves the spaceship with helmet closed and full of spew (literally. Full beyond his eyeballs). While on the surface of Mars, he projectile vomits all over an alien he meets (his helmet visor now up).
  • On the surface or Mars, the vomit hovers in space. I will admit I don’t know enough to say for sure that this wouldn’t happen, but at one third of the Earth’s gravity, surely the shape of it would be different, but it wouldn’t hover.

All in all, this would be okay without all the inaccuracies, and will likely be enjoyed by fans of the other books by this duo, but I can’t in good conscious recommend it.

Category: Book Reviews, Other Reviews

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