Spaaaaaace

I think we introduced this one during the Dream Big summer theme. We liked it so much, we decided to try to incorporate it more into our yearly rotation.

 

Krong! By Garry Parsons. When the kid in the story is approached by an alien in the story and the kid doesn't understand him, he runs inside to tell his parents and they offer the most helpful advice of maybe he's Spanish, French, Japanese. He tries all those languages and then you find out the alien is the boy's uncle.  Why don't the parents say "Why are you talking to a stranger?! Come inside this minute!"? I guess that would defeat the message of like, cultural acceptance or whatever.  But seriously? There's just some strange guy your son is talking to and you're totally ok with it?  Regardless, it's a cute book.

 

 

Man on the Moon (a Day in the Life of Bob) by Simon Bartram. This is a day in the life of the man in the moon.  He flies up every day, tidies it up, puts on shows for the tourists, and has never ever seen an alien. I usually keep this reserved for my elementary kids.

 

 

Baloney (Henry P.) by Jon Scieszka. Kids really get a kick out of the outlandish excuse for being late, told from the point of view of the little alien - complete with alien slang. It's quite a fun story to read aloud.

 

 

Mousetronaut by Mark Kelly. Somewhat similar to Hedgie in Space, it's about a little mouse that gets to go on a space mission and ends up saving the crew and the mission. The best part? This is actually written by an astronaut! :D  How cool is that? 

 

 

The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers. Y'all should know my love for Oliver Jeffers by now. The story is about an alien and a person who both unexpectedly land and get stuck on the moon. They find each other, and figure out a way to get their vehicles fixed.

 



 

Hush, Little Alien by Daniel Kirk. Obviously a take on Hush, Little Baby. Yes, the whole thing can be sung, and I often do it. I stop and ask questions though, so they don't miss the cute play on words or illustrations.

 

 

It Came From Outer Space by Tony Bradman. When I did a search for this image, I found out this was also the name of an old sci-fi film.  I have no idea if they are similar. In this one, a visitor from space comes to an elementary school. They talk about how weird and ugly it was, and how they couldn't understand what it was trying to say. They take a picture with it and get to see the inside of the spacecraft, and then it's time for the visitor to go. In a Twilight Zone-like twist, you see the picture and see that the class are all aliens, and the visitor is a human.  

 

 

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon! by Dan Yaccarino. With simple rhyming text and graphic illustrations, this books goes through one little boy's trip to the moon. It's a short, quick read, so I like to do this one with my two year olds.

 

 

Other good books for this theme are:

 

Astro Bunnies by Christine Loomis.

 

 

Moo Cow Kaboom by Thacher Hurd

 

 

As far as songs or fingerplays, I do Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and in the past I've gone this:

 

 

9 Little Planets (sung to the tune of 10 little Indians)

 

 

One little two little three little planets

Four little five little six little planets

Seven little eight little nine little planets

Orbiting round the sun.

 

I know.  Pluto is technically a dwarf planet, but didn't they add it back recently?  It's so hard to keep up with this crap.