Earth Space Moon Base

by Ben Joel Price

Overview

Outer space, a moon base, and . . . bananas? Discover Ben Joel Price’s quirky extraterrestrial world and its unusual trio of guardians.
 
A spaceman, a robot, and a cheeky monkey use a most unusual method to protect Earth from hungry, googly-eyed moon aliens. Ben Joel Price’s offbeat rhymes and colorful, retro-style illustrations evoke a funny little world away from ours, which will captivate readers young and old.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385373111
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	08/26/2014
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.30(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD320L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

BEN JOEL PRICE is a modern artist, illustrator and graphic designer. He is director of Symetria, a British greeting card company (he was once asked to produce a birthday card for the Queen!). This is his first illustrated children's book.

Editorial Reviews

05/26/2014
British artist Price (Love Bites) mixes polished draftsmanship, the eerie loneliness of outer space, and an unusual team of astronauts in his first book for children. Limiting himself to a palette of cool gray-blues accented with orange and yellow (until the green and purple aliens show up, that is), Price pans across the desolate lunar setting. Readers are led down a long ladder—“Open the hatch/ Down we go”—where a spaceman, monkey and robot load a flying saucer with boxes of bananas. The robot trains a camera on a deep crater, and the monkey ventures out with a space hose, spraying bananas around the crater’s mouth. What are the bananas meant to do? “Then, all of a sudden, something shoots out!/ Tentacles squirm and thrash about!” This is official lunar policy, apparently; the lumpy aliens are kept at bay with regular doses of bananas: “Sleepy and full, the creatures retreat./ They’ve all had far too much to eat.” The contrast between the deadpan, highly technical spreads and the Monty Pythonesque humor will keep listeners riveted—and giggling. Ages 3–7. Agent: Isabel Atherton, Creative Authors. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-05-28
Have you ever wondered why there are so many bananas on the moon?A squat, orange contraption, reminiscent of an old-fashioned scuba helmet, sits amid the moon’s craters. It is a secret base. The hatch creaks open, and readers meet a “spaceman,” a robot and a “cheeky monkey” (the British slang is fun to say, but the monkey doesn’t have much personality, cheeky or otherwise). It is the job of these three brave individuals to protect the Earth from an alien invasion. Their weapon of choice? Bananas. Extraterrestrials with bulging eyes, slippery tentacles and spiky fur slither out from a crater. Bananas are the only thing that will keep them happy (and full). Employing a controlled palette of stark black, white, orange and gray—with, of course, important accents of yellow, purple and green—the retro illustrations carry the story through some rough rhymes. (Even for slant rhyme, “one” and “gone” is a tough sell.) Paint-splattered stars and a robotic typeface add to the far-flung galactic flair. The concluding page hints, with the addition of a simple question mark, that the aliens may not be content for long.Price’s debut falters a bit in engagement and energy, but visually? Out of this world. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews