Children have big imaginations, a characteristic beautifully captured by author Caryl Hart in her bestselling Albie books.
From riding polar bears to racing monsters, catching dragons to growing dinosaurs, the adventurous preschooler is always embarking on an exciting but educational escapade, beautifully told by Caryl and brightly brought to life by illustrator Ed Eaves.
It is ten years since the first stories in the series – Supermarket Zoo – was published and this month the tenth instalment arrived on the bookshelf, entitled How To Drive A Roman Chariot.
This anniversary definitely called for a celebration so we were asked to be part of a special blog tour about ten years of Albie, with each stop starring a different book and the chance to win a copy!
Our pick was Welcome To Alien School from 2012, an intergalactic adventure that sees Albie makes some interesting friends, eat space-ghetti and learn to ride a space scooter.
It’s a favourite read right now given that Baby Bookworm is both obsessed with the Solar System and due to start school for the first time in September. Scroll down to discover Caryl Hart’s five facts about aliens and find out how you could win a copy of your own.
Caryl Hart’s five top facts about aliens:
1. Nobody knows if aliens really exist. Lots of people claim to have seen aliens but scientists tell us there is no proof that this is true.
2. Most of the planets we know about would not make great homes for humans. They are too hot, too cold or have no air to breathe. Because most planets are very VERY far away, it’s hard to find out whether there are any other kinds of living creatures there.
3. Scientists sent a machine called Beagle 2 to Mars to look for signs of life. But the machine went missing and was found broken in pieces 11 years later.
4. The earliest mention of aliens was by a writer called Lucian of Samosata around 1,800 years ago. He made up a story about travelling to the moon and discovering all sorts of life there including vultures, and birds made from grass!
5. There are 100 thousand million (100,000,000,000) planets in our galaxy. And over two million million (2,000,000,000,000) galaxies in the universe – at least! (times those together and you get… 200,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets!!!). That’s a LOT of planets so it’s highly possible that other living things are out there. We just have to find them!
To celebrate 10 years of Albie, Simon & Schuster are giving away a copy of every book in the series, as part of the Albie blog tour. Head to our Facebook page for your chance to win Welcome to Alien School (competition closes 14 August 2020) and check out the other stops for more chances to grab a copy.
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