4apenvw4147daybsh82k7jl2vrkdSynopsis: “Discover the spellbinding magic of The Planets in this musical reimagining of one of Holst’s most famous suites. Push the button on each beautiful scene to hear the vivid sound of an orchestra playing from Holst’s score. This tale is about a brother and sister who adventure deep into our solar system. Our story begins one night as Helen and Tim get ready for bed in their new space rocket bunk beds… but sleep will have to wait as they magically blast up, up, up into the glittering night sky, leaving planet Earth far below them. Helen and Tim journey here, there and everywhere through our majestic solar system. They soar past the cold rocky surface of Mars as it rises into towering peaks and plunges into deep canyons and glide through a bumpy asteroid belt made of icy rocks. They blast deeper into our solar system, exploring the dazzling stars and astounding planets along the way.  But now it really is time to head home! As the rocket speeds towards Earth, Tim and Helen watch the sun rise over their planet.”

My Review

This is a wonderful children’s non-fiction picture book. It’s actually part of a new-to-me series introducing children to famous classical music through words, pictures and short excerpts of music.

This book is all about Helen and Tim, a brother and sister who travel through space visiting the planets in the solar system. To accompany each planet they visit there are buttons to press that play small excerpts of music from Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

I actually listened to my CD of The Planets whilst looking at the book and loved how the illustrations worked really well with the music, along with the facts about each planet that the children visited. I actually read this on my PC so was able to enjoy the brilliant illustrations in a bigger format, and the quality was excellent. 

At the back of the book is a short biography about Gustav Holst with details about his composition of The Planets. Along with this, you can replay the musical excerpts and, learn about the instruments, rhythms and musical techniques that he used.

I love classical music, and really wish that this series had been around when my son was a child, as he would have really enjoyed it.

Highly recommended as the perfect introduction to classical music for children, plus it and would make a fantastic Christmas gift!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for my digital PDF copy via Adobe Digital Editions.