posted on 04 Oct 2017

You Choose in Space by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart

I was the kind of child who would spend ages poring over details of illustrations in books enjoying the colours and patterns as well as looking for clues in the background about secondary characters and plots. I am convinced that this kind of activity helped to develop my imagination as well as inspiring me to draw, write and invent stories using whatever came to hand. So I was bound to love this book because it is pleasingly jam-packed with the vividly coloured trademark illustrations of Nick Sharratt as well as plenty of tantalising text written by Pippa Goodhart. 

It is the third book in the ‘You Choose’ series published by Puffin that invites the reader to fully participate in constructing a story by giving lots of interesting choices on every page. I love the exuberance of the cover with four different cartoon like strips banded across horizontally and set against a background of stars and planets. The two main characters are there in their zoot suits ready to pull us into the action, a smiling girl with a robot dog who looks set for adventure and a smiling boy who sits in a wheelchair and points towards a rocket that zooms into the central part of the book title. 

The end papers at front and back are a striking contrast to the book cover being white words on a black background that read almost like a poem – the strong message being that words can paint pictures in themselves.  As the two  children set off on the space ship for an adventure we are asked to ‘ Choose a job aboard the ship’ and treated to an intimate glimpse of life from working in a laundry, a busy hairdressing salon, collecting eggs from the on ship hen houses, working in the gym through to everyday cleaning and  maintenance.  There is so much to talk about on these first two pages and I can see children leaning in closely to look at the detail as they discuss all the available possibilities.

It’s really difficult to select my favourite parts of this book because they are all so stimulating. I rather like the page that asks: ’ Who would you like to meet today? Choose a friend. What would you say?’ We are presented with an extraordinary collection of aliens including the usual array with multiple eyes and legs but other intriguing characters like the moustachioed individual who is dressed in 17th century style clothes and is riding a scooter. Just imagine the children arguing about which ones they like the look of best and deciding what to talk about with them – so many ideas that could be developed into drawing, writing and drama activities.

Another double page spread  that I particularly like is the cross section of the spaceship hotel which has a different orientation from the previous pages, presumably to emphasise its height. What child wouldn’t enjoy peering into the different rooms and deciding which one might be the best place for a snooze. My guess is that the jungle themed room complete with a lion might be a popular choice, or maybe the spooky room that comes with a ghost, coffin and bats.

I strongly recommend that you all go out and buy this beautifully designed book and then take some time to thoroughly enjoy it before passing onto a child, or maybe just keep it on a shelf for yourself to while away some happy hours.    

Karen Argent

October 2017