Red Rover, Curiosity on Mars, illustrated Mars magic for 3-7

Is that real? Does it really exist? Those are the qualifiers for anything that our second grader is reading now. It’s the exact opposite of his brother who was more into madcap humor, science-fiction and Captain Underpants. Nay, his younger brother is mainly attracted to non-fiction. When he read Red Rover, Curiosity on Mars for the first time he peppered me with all sorts of questions about Mars, if people lived there, if water existed there and how the probe was getting its power.

I couldn’t answer all of his questions as well as he would’ve liked. But to that end, there’s a complete bibliography in the back of Red Rover, just in case your budding scientist wants to read more. 

Red Rover, Curiosity on Mars is an illustrated book that’s great for kids three through seven. If your child is in first grade then this is just the sort of picture based science book that’ll make them curious. They’ll be able to read some of the words; sound out the rest and master a couple of sight words. The text is such that second graders will be able to read it without any help.

The later is where our youngest child is. It’s his go-to goodnight book right now for a number of reasons. For him, right now, it’s mainly due to the illustrations and for good reason. They’re huge and give readers the impression of how desolate, lonely and massive Mars can be. There’s a two-page spread that shows a sandstorm approaching the craft and there’s a sense of unavoidable dread that one gets looking at it. In space, no one can hear you scream, but a moment of concern is certainly put forth for Curiosity.

The next two pages reveal a four-page spread that opens to the massive, red, barren landscape that awaits droids, rovers or possible astronauts. There’s a detailed breakdown of Curiosity and all of its parts and more. The ‘more’ part adds up to what parents will read after the book. Those small readers will still be present, because everyone will be motivated by their own curiosity to learn more about Mars and the vehicles that we’ve sent up there.

For example: did you know that Curiosity has travelled more than 12 miles on the surface of Mars? Ancient streambeds have been discovered on the surface of the planet. The dust devils on Mars can reach up to 12 miles high. Red Rover is certainly an illustrated book for children. However, it’s one of those great books that are so much fun to read that you’ll want to read it more than once-and the kids will not mind one bit either.

Red Rover, Curiosity on Mars is by Richard Ho with illustrations by Katherine Roy.

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