How the Meteorite Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland (Blue Apple Books)

Books that make your child think, and ask a dozen or so questions afterwards are wonderful. Books that make both you AND your child think, and have you diving off to the Internet or to encyclopaedias for more research into their topics are truly magical. Here we find out a little bit more about Meteorites, those earth-bound chunks of space rocks so beloved of disaster movie makers.

Back in 1992 a sizeable Meteorite made a real mess of someone's car in Peekskill, NY.

Owch! This is going to be one interesting insurance claim!

The book tells the story of just how that happened - from the Meteor's movements out in space, to its eventual planetfall - becoming a meteorite, and the near miss those folk had in Peekskill before the meteorite finally ended up as a prize exhibit at The Smithsonian Institute (amongst other places). Jessie's art is child-friendly and brilliant, and it's fantastic to see such detail in the spreads as the visitor from another world tracks right across the US before reaching its final destination.

Duck!

We found the book fascinating and our research into the Peekskill impact (and others) equally enthralling. Finding out the age of the rock (around 2 billion years old) caused lots of oohs and ahhs as did the photos of the impact and the meteor itself.

A fabulous book from the "how did the" series published by Blue Apple Books.

Charlotte's best bit: Some amazing space science relayed in a brilliant and engaging way. Truly magical!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fascinating photos at the end of the real meteorite impact! Glad I wasn't driving that car at the time!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Mat at PGUK / Blue Apple Books)