To no one’s surprise, no fans of Tom Delonge, that is, he chose the topic of his debut children’s book to be about the moon, an astronaut, and aliens.
In his first outing as a children’s book author, Delonge takes the reader to the moon. It is there we meet the titular lonely astronaut. We are first introduced to the lonely astronaut upon opening the front cover. It is there we are greeted with amazing artwork by Mike Henry. This picture is revisited on the second page of the story. But the second time we see it, it doesn’t capture the astronaut’s longing to be home. They really should have used the two-page spread here, or used a different illustration for this page. This is the only critique I have of illustration choice throughout the book.
The image behind the front cover is a two-page spread of a far-off Earth on the left side being longed for by the little astronaut on the right side. It truly conveys the longing he has to be home, back on Earth. And throughout the book, Henry does a great job using simple facial expressions to show the astronaut's lethargy as he yearns for home for Christmas.
The story is a sweet and enduring one. We follow two little aliens as they brainstorm ways to cheer up the “sad little guy.”
The book does a great job conveying to young readers how a small act of kindness can change a person’s mood.
As mentioned before, Mike Henry does a great job with the illustrations. His use of ma, or empty space, helps to reinforce the isolation felt by the astronaut. To show how vast and wide open and truly empty outer space truly is.
If you are given the chance, try to grab the version of the book that has the “colorless” images only. Not the one with color. I think the colorless images, those bleak, dull hues of black and brown and gray and white, help to create an isolated atmosphere that allows the reader to better connect with the astronaut's feelings of loneliness.
Surprisingly, the one thing that continuously pulled me out of the story were the words. The rhyme scheme and syllable count didn’t follow a consistent pattern throughout. I found myself having to reread words and phrases more than once to find the rhythm. It tried to follow the ABCB rhyming pattern, but several times throughout I found myself having to force an end rhyme.
All in all, this is a very cute picture book. A perfect Christmas gift for a young outer space enthusiast!
This book is best for young readers between the ages of 1 and 10 who love Christmas and the stars and…little green men.
Other books that are similar to The Lonely Astronaut on Christmas Eve that you might enjoy!
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