Mousetronaut Saves the World is cute and smart for early elementary school

We didn’t read the first or second illustrated book in the Mousetronaut series. Having read Moustronaut Saves the World, it’s not necessary. One of the main Mousetronauts, Meteor has been to space before. That fact is referenced more than a couple of times in the book. He’s been to space before and has just the knowledge set to save Earth from the asteroid on a collision course with the planet. Thankfully, the flight director of the James Webb Space Telescope has a big plan that is dependent on little astronauts.

Specifically, mousetronauts, they have been trained at MASA and one of them has been to outer space before. Because the mission needs to happen quickly, a smaller ship can be built quicker, and mice need less food and room to navigate in so they’re perfect for the job. Meteor gets his space-mates, Newton and Nova up to speed on the rough neighborhood of planets they’ll be navigating. They need to land on Mars, then take off again to the wayward rock, nudge the errant asteroid out of Earth’s path, and boogie back home.

After they successfully alter the rock’s course their ship suffers some damage and has to land on the moon. When they land on that surface they realize that the heat shield on the ship is damaged and they can’t get back home in this vehicle. It’s now up to the humans to get a ship up to the moon to rescue the rodents who saved civilization. Can they do it in time?

Mousetronaut Saves the World is an illustrated book that early to middle elementary ages will enjoy. It has lots of giggles, mixed in with enough science, space and STEM nuggets to make it educational and fun to read. The hesitation that you might infer from our description is that there are more entertaining, science or STEM, illustrated books out there. There are also more educational illustrated books that have STEM samplings out there. Granted the anthropomorphic mice astronaut angle is wide open and hasn’t been done before, especially by a real astronaut, Mark Kelly, so commence lift-off.

This is a book that kids of a certain age will immediately enjoy. However, those kids who are just a hair older than that demographic won’t like it, will actively deride it as a baby book and try to steer their juvenile friends to more sophisticated fare. If they know, then they know, and kids in early elementary school who want to read experience a smart book about space travel while letting their imagination flow, will know. Kids in first through third grade will enjoy having it read to them. Some fourth graders will and fifth graders will look at the book as something that’s meant for their younger, more Cocomelon-inspired brethren. It’s not meant for them. This is a silly, good time that’s meant for those younger kids who can latch onto the absurd mouse and astronaut hijinks and hopefully take away that bit of information and inspiration that could inspire curiosity.

Mousetronaut Saves the World: Based on a (Partially) True Story is by Astronaut Mark Kelly and illustrated by C. F. Payne, is A Paula Wiseman Book, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

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