We're continuing our celebration of all things Spacey with the run-up to the 50th Anniversary of the first moon landing - this time with a book that not only looks at that monumental space mission, but begins way back in the early days of the space race as the USA and USSR put their scientific might behind exploring space for the first time.

In "The Race to Space" by Clive Gifford and Paul Daviz, this absolutely gorgeously presented book presents a potted but thoroughly detailed history of the space race, beginning with Russia's first man-made satellite in space (Sputnik), right through to what may happen in the future as once again the world gears up to take the next steps towards exploring the rest of the Solar System and beyond.

Straight off the bat, this book is so eye catching, with Paul Daviz coming up with some absolutely stunning illustrations drawing on influences ranging from Russian 'Space Propaganda' posters, right through to NASA's amazing conceptual art. With Clive's thorough and precise facts and anecdotes detailing the early missions, the unmanned launches, animals in space, and of course the first humans to be launched into space and successfully returned to earth, it's a riveting read even if you feel you're relatively well informed about space exploration.

Utterly superb in every way.

Sum this book up in a sentence: A fact-filled and brilliantly presented book encompassing a huge chunk of space exploration history, and looking forwards to what we may achieve in space next.

"The Race to Space" by Clive Gifford and Paul Daviz is out now, published by Words and Pictures (kindly supplied for review).

They're not just for waving frantically at royal occasions, this book uncovers an amazing collection of facts about flags...

You can expect a LOT of children's books on the subject of "The Beautiful Game" this year and Egmont are publishing a real corker...

Here's a stunning book full of amazing facts, tons of colour and of course a whopping great big dose of history. We LOVE it!

We love clever books, and kids of all ages love a book that goes beyond the flat two-dimensional confines of a traditional book.

Egmont's two fantastic natural history titles "What's Below" and "What's Above" both written by Clive Gifford with illustrations and paper engineering from Kate McClelland really bring the world to life in a fantastic and innovative way.

Each diminutively-sized book packs a heck of a lot of information into each page spread, as well as the most glorious pop-up scenes showing everything from the underground habitats of bunnies, to the deep blue oceans of the world where whales and dolphins thrive.

We just love opening these books just for the sheer thrill of seeing how perfectly each little scene unfolds...

The lush green canopy of the rainforest, and all the animals and plants that live there.

These are just gorgeous. We really loved the final spread in "What's Above?" (we're not going to spoil it by showing you so definitely go and pick up a copy as soon as you can!)

"What's Above?" and "What's Below" by Clive Gifford and Kate McClelland are both available now, published by Egmont (kindly supplied for review). 

For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by robots and I'm glad to say that a bit of that fascination has definitely rubbed off on Charlotte...

How does your brain work? How does your brain control your body and relay information from your eyes and ears? A fascinating look at the science of thinking and feeling in "Brain Twisters"