Planet Stan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
11-year-old space enthusiast Stan needs peace and quiet and loves diagrams: Venn, bar charts and anything that helps him survive the chaos of a normal life. Fred, his younger brother, is obsessed with snot, running around naked and generally embarrassing his older brother, who ends up babysitting Fred a lot as his mum is always busy with 'mum o'clock'.
Fred has his own worries, though, as his favourite dinosaur exhibition is under threat at the museum. And all Stan cares about is going to the Space Museum. Stan struggles to manage Fred's antics, and the pair even get banned from the museum, but with a little help from friends and a cool gran, Stan and Fred manage to find some common ground.
Stan's infographic survival tips are hilarious and will delight fans of the Danger is Everywhere books by David O'Doherty.
How fantastic to see a book packed with mathematical concepts and space facts and yet be so hilarious. Readers will want to devour it in one sitting. Children, especially those with younger siblings, will be laughing out loud with poor Stan, who often ends up bearing the consequences of his brother's behaviour. They will also love exploring the graphs and pie charts by Chris Judge, which are humorously novel ways to show how Stan sees the world.
