Amazing Astro Animals by James Foley

"Humans decided to send small animals in their rockets until they were sure they could make it safe enough to send themselves. Because of this, the early history of animals in space includes many sad stories." [sorry I know this is a spoiler]

Astro - this means SPACE! Astro Animals! This means animals sent into space! Amazing ones yes because even though you might know about a few such as Laika the dog sent in 1957 and maybe a monkey or chimp and if you really are a space boffin you might have heard that a tardigrade travelled into space in 2007 but I guarantee you will have no idea about the other sixty animals that James Foley describes in his newest book. If you don't believe me what about the Mummichog Fish?

Image source: James Foley

I was not sure how to start this blog post about Amazing Astro Animals. I think I would like to fill my page with the word WOW written hundreds of times all over this post - yes this is a WOW book! The title is so right - the animals in this book are amazing and James Foley, your book is amazing too!

The Space Race really was a race mainly between the USA and the Soviet Union although other countries did get involved too but before humans went up into the cosmos a huge variety of animals blasted off in the interest of science. Was this ethical?

The first couple of pages in this book are used to explain the term animals because, as you know, there are so many different kinds of animals. Your young reading companion or class (me too) really need this overview of the animal kingdom that James Foley presents over a double page spread. There are seven pages in total that explore animal classifications and then a further spread which identifies all the dangers of space such as no air, lack of gravity, isolation, and extreme temperatures. 

Each section of Amazing Astro Animals is colour coded to match the chapter headings: Fantastic Firsts; Mammal-nauts; Slimy-nauts, Scaly-nauts and Feathery-nauts; Aqua-nauts; and Teeny-tiny-nauts. Plus, like all the best nonfiction books there is an extensive glossary and a full index.

James Foley has created true alchemy with this new book. It is factual and clearly involved thousands of hours of painstaking research, but this book is also funny, clever, poignant and a visual delight. Congratulations to Fremantle Press on giving James Foley the scope to make such a huge book (150 pages) in hardcover and for a very affordable price. EVERY school and public library needs to add this book to their collection. In fact, you might like to buy two copies because this book will be in high demand. I feel very lucky to have been sent a review copy of this glorious volume. 

It would take me days to list all of my discoveries from this book (and really all YOU need to do is read the whole book for yourself) but I will mention a couple that made me gasp:

• Neil Armstrong is famous but he was not the first human to go to space and of course he was not the first Earthling either. The first Earthlings in space were fruit flies. The first human was the Russian cosmonaut Turi Gagarin. His flight lasted just under two hours. 
• Laika was not the first dog sent into space but she was the first Earthling to orbit the Earth. 
• The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova from Russia. I read about her mission orbiting the earth 48 times over three days and I cheered when I read she became a Major General and even a politician BUT then I discovered "she voted in favour of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022" and so my opinion of this space pioneer plummeted.  
• As of 2026 only 15% of humans who have travelled to space have been women. 
• The first Earthlings to travel around (not land) on the moon were tortoises and mealworms (1968).
• Many of the animals sent into space were given sweet names - Miss Able and Miss Baker (squirrel monkeys from USA); Belka meaning Squirrel and Stelka meaning arrow (white lab rats from USSR 1960); and Yerosha and Drema (rhesus macaques 1987).
• In 1984 3,400 honeybees travelled on the Space Shuttle Discovery and they were able to make honey in space!
• Some of the animals sent into space were suggested by High School students who entered competitions.

This book just resonates with research and please stop and think about that because researching material from USSR and Russia in a language you don't speak and from organisations that, even now, years later are sure to be shrouded in secrecy must have been so challenging. I imagine James Foley learned a lot too about animal biology, space missions, and rocket designs not to mention diplomacy.

Here are the teachers notes for Amazing Astro Animals. See some pages here. 

Do you remember Stella? We met her in 2021. Her book, like this one, had fabulous end papers filled with astronauts - animal astronauts. Amazing Astro Animals is a companion volume to the wonderful Stellarphant which was a CBCA Picture Book of the Year Honour book (and I am proud to say I was one of the three judges that year!). Dr Stella Phant has written the foreword and afterword to Amazing Astro Animals, and you will love discovering her 'joke' on the back cover.

Stellarphant

Readers of all ages are captivated by space, and this animal astronaut showcase has broad appeal. James Foley has drawn from his picture book and graphic novel talents to create a uniquely entertaining and genuinely fascinating nonfiction book. There are fun comic strips and visual gags throughout, and fans of Foley’s wonderful picture book Stellarphant will be delighted to recognise a familiar face in the opening pages. Reading Melbourne

Image source: James Foley

My interest in animals that were sent into space goes back to this very old book but now that I have read this new volume by James Foley I have discovered so many more animals along with their true stories:

I recently read this book about Laika the famous Russian dog sent into space:

Dog Star

Further Reading:

Fifty Animals that have been to Space by Jennifer A Read and John Read (2020)

(This book tells the stories of 50 trips into space, and the animals and the scientists involved).

Kiddle: Animals in space facts for kids

Animals in Space timeline National Geographic (this is brilliant)

Fun facts about animals in space

Dogs in Space: The Amazing True Story of Belka and Strelka by Vix Southgate, illustrated by Iris Deppe

Grace in Space by Stacy Shaneyfelt illus Marina Maslova

Grace In Space: A Kids’ Picture Book About the History of 10 Animal Astronaut Heroes

Included: Laika; Marfusha; and Felicette

Home Now by Lesley Beake illustrated by Karin Littlewood

I have been looking for books to link with the CBCA short listed titles.  I do like to extend our reading of these books with an exploration of the author or illustrator or perhaps the topic.

Home now links quite nicely with One step at a time.   Listen to an interview with Jane Jolley and Sally Heinrich.  They talk about the horror of land mines and their impact on the people and animals in Thailand.

In Home now we meet Sieta, has recently become an orphan in South Africa, and read how a special baby elephant is able to help her as she adjusts to her new life.

"Sieta remembered a green garden in a dry land. ... Sieta remembered when she and Ma and Pa went to church on Sundays."

Sieta goes on a school excursion to an elephant park.  She meets orphan elephants and forms an immediate bond with Satara - the baby. "Sieta smelled his elephant smell and it smelled like wild places far, far away."  The next day, straight after school,  Sieta goes back to visit Satara.  Back in her village she looks on the scene with new eyes.  This is a new and strange place but perhaps it can become her new home - a place for new memories and new pictures in her mind.

After reading Home Now you might compare this with The colour of home which has the same illustrator - Karin Littlewood.  For class reading you could also use Tua and the elephant and Elephant Mountain from the Aussie Bites series.

Little dog, lost by Marion Dane Bauer illustrated by Jennifer A Bell

By the end of this little verse novel every one has huge smiles on their faces - the kids, the adults and the reader!  The words gem, joy, delight, charming, sweet, honest and exquisite are all words I would use to describe Little Dog, Lost.

I was browsing a list of verse novels when I saw the cover of this little book.  I adore verse novels but I had not seen Little Dog, Lost on any previous lists.  It is not a new book first published in 2012.

I read the Kirkus review and knew I would adore this book.

A perfect selection for pet lovers new to chapter books and anyone who just enjoys a cheerful dog story.

Mark longs for a dog.  A boy in another town has a dog he adores. This boy is moving to an apartment and his dog is given away to a lady (who has no understanding of dogs) who lives in the same town as Mark.  The little dog is called Buddy.  She is confused and desperate to find her boy again.  Meanwhile, Mark decides he needs a campaign to lobby his mum - who is the mayor - for a dog park. Mum won't let Mark have a dog but perhaps a park will give him space to connect with the special dogs owned by all of his friends. Living in this town, called Erthly, is an old man grieving for the loss of his mistress - he is now the reclusive owner of a mansion in the middle of town. How can these three lives be bought together?

In the night dark

he could make out a small dog

with airplane ears

that drooped

just at the tips.

Such sweet ears!

...

Charles Larue watched the boy,

watched the dog.

Both boy and dog

were coiled springs,

waiting to be released.

Buddy stretched toward the reaching hand.

She touched it,

just lightly

with her cool, damp nose.

A boy hand.

A good boy hand.

She breathed it in.

Here is a discussion guide.  You can hear the author read a small section of this book on her web site.  I would link the reading of this book with Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten by Bob Graham, One dog and his boy by Eva Ibbotson and Everything for a dog by Ann M Martin.  This book also reminded me of Happy Mouseday.

I am delighted to see another book by Marion Dane Bauer this time featuring a cat.