Common Sense Media Review
By Jan Carr
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Little kid astronaut explores Mars in sweet, funny story.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In LIFE ON MARS, a boy astronaut lands on Mars, determined to find life on the planet. He sets off from his spaceship with a box of cupcakes, a gift for any alien he might encounter. The reader sees a tall, looming martian in the background watching him, but the boy is unaware. Disheartened at finding no life on Mars, he drops his cupcake box. But then -- aha! -- he spies a pretty yellow flower poking out of the otherwise barren landscape. Hooray! There's life on Mars after all! Searching for his spaceship to head home, he unwittingly scales the martian's belly and picks up his cupcake box, wondering, "How did it get there?" He takes off for home happy with his flower, never realizing he had a close encounter with an actual martian.
Is It Any Good?
There's heart and humor in this tale of a little kid astronaut who travels to Mars with the gift of a box of chocolate cupcakes and the big tubby martian he somehow never actually meets. Author-illustrator Jon Agee has a way with fun books for young kids, and though Life on Mars convincingly depicts a desolate Mars scape, it also manages to be sweet and funny. The boy astronaut tells the story, and his first-person voice is kid-like and appealing. Would it have been more adventurous if Agee had cast the little astronaut as someone other than a Caucasian boy? Yes, but the boy's face is sweetly expressive, making it easy for us to like him. The same goes for the big, huggable martian, who looks more shy than threatening and seems to also hope for a friend.
Kids love to feel in on the joke and will find it hysterically funny that they can see the martian looming in the background closely following the main character, while the boy himself remains clueless. The text is conversational and inviting, and there's much to search for in the art. This one should be a bedtime/story-time crowd pleaser.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the difference between what the reader and the narrator see in Life on Mars. What do you know that the boy in the story doesn't?
Do you think the martian looks scary or friendly? Why?
What are the funniest parts of the story to you? Are they in the art, the text, or both?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Jon Agee
- Genre : Picture Book
- Topics : Adventures , STEM
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Dial Books for Young Readers
- Publication date : February 28, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 8
- Number of pages : 32
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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