CHILDREN’S

books of the week

GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TIM – THE SPACE ADVENTURES OF MAJOR TIM PEAKE by Clive Gifford, Wayland Books, £12.99 HAVE you ever wondered how it feels to float in zero gravity, see your home from 400,000m above the Earth or eat your Christmas dinner in space?

This eye-catching book provides a fascinating insight into astronaut Tim Peake’s journey from a schoolboy who loved scientific experiments to becoming the first Brit to visit the International Space Station, where he lived and worked for six months.

Youngsters can learn all about life in space and Tim’s daily routine, which included everything from clearing space dust from machinery to more nailbiting moments such as using robotic arms to catch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as it travelled just 10m below the space station.

With plenty of great photos and fact boxes to keep younger ones interested, this informative read from award-winning author Clive Gifford is sure to excite and inspire.

THE SECRET OF BLACK ROCK by Joe Todd-Stanton, £11.99 and WILD ANIMALS OF THE SOUTH by Dieter Braun, £20 are available at Flyingeyebooks.com WHEN reading to a child, grown-ups need to love the books too, so try small publishing company, Flying Eye Books.

Their educational stories are accompanied by gorgeous illustrations, all hand-drawn by talented folk from around Europe.

Once you’re done, you could almost take the pages out and frame them, they’re that pretty.