We're kicking off a whole week of space-tastic reviews to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first moon landing. Starting with "The Darkest Dark" by Chris Hadfield and Eric & Terry Fan (Macmillan Children's Books)

We're kicking off a whole week of space-tastic reviews on the run up to the 20th July. This coming saturday will mark the official 50th Anniversary of the very first moon landing, and that one small step for a man turning into a giant leap for mankind.

In "The Darkest Dark" by Chris Hadfield and Eric & Terry Fan, find out what one little boy thought of the moon landings as he clustered around a television at his parents' island-based holiday home, along with many others to watch those first grainy pictures broadcast direct from the moon as Neil Armstrong took that final step towards an incredible and amazing achievement.

Cmdr Chris Hadfield was one of the first astronauts in the Canada Space Agency, and is one of the best ambassadors for space exploration and research. We've watched many of his broadcasts from the International Space Station in awe.

But can you believe that Chris, as a child, was afraid of the dark?

In this inspirational first fictional picture book from Chris, illustrated by the hugely talented Fan brothers (Eric and Terry) you'll learn how Chris overcame his fear, and was inspired by the moon landings to first learn to fly, then pilot fighter jets before entering the space program later in life.

For anyone watching those broadcasts from the moon, it must have been an amazing time to be alive.

I was a tiny little speck of a one year old human at the time, so it kinda washed over me - but it's become something of an obsession for our family with my wife and I, and of course C all absolutely nutty about space.

This book works on two levels, brilliant for space fans who want to get to know more about how Chris grew up to become an astronaut, and also a touching little story about what it's like to confront your fears, face up to a fear of the dark, and overcome that fear to become the person you really want to be.

A brilliant book to kick off our Space Week!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A neat little biographical story twinned with a message comforting kids who may be frightened of the dark themselves.

"The Darkest Dark" by Chris Hadfield and The Fan Brothers is out now, published by Macmillan Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).