ASTRO KITTENS

Once dinosaurs have begun to seem passé, space is the place for many toddlers, and the Astro Kittens are excellent guides.

Together with  Astro Kittens: Cosmic Machines, its companion volume in this spinoff of the Professor Astro Cat series, this board book promises to present “advanced scientific theories through fun and engaging artwork”—and manages to do so without talking down to children. Both books are information-dense, but, for the most part, ideas are introduced in manageable bites. Concepts covered include rockets, traveling at light speed, wormholes, suspended animation, and the possibility of “alien life forms.” Astro Kittens: Cosmic Machines introduces telescopes (including the Hubble Space Telescope), the International Space Station, and even the “ideal rocket equation,” derived from “Newton’s second law of motion,” which few caregivers will able to verbalize unless they’re also astrophysicists! Explaining wormholes to little ones will seem like child’s play by comparison. All of this would seem too much if not for the adorable Astro Kittens and the kid-friendly artwork and the inviting, “just imagine” tone of the writing. Each idea is presented with two easily digested statements and an annotated illustration explaining rocket or satellite parts, historical facts about space exploration, and the like. The adventurous Astro Kittens clearly love their work, and they seem equally at home piloting spacecraft, spacewalking, or floating in zero gravity.

Sure to fire imaginations and inspire questions caregivers may struggle good-naturedly to answer.