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

The Wild Unknown by Emily Gale

The year is 2045 so it's not that far into the future. There are plenty of ideas in this book that actually could happen such as personal assistants worn in the ear called 'mica'; body transplants such as hearts from animals; food orders delivered by robots called 'Goodbots'; government surveillance drones everywhere; student progress monitored by robots at school with reports sent regularly to parents; and talking appliances!

The idea of humans with body parts from animals is a key concept in this story but you might over look it.  It links with the strange changes happening to Eddie and a couple of his classmates and is introduced about two thirds of the way through the book. Eddie begins to grow feathers; he is fully awake at night and so exhausted all day; his eyes seem to have changed to night vision; he can run like an athlete way beyond his usual pace; and he can even stay under the water for a long period with no ill effects.

What is happening? How did this start? Eddie receives a delicious food delivery during the school holidays.

The Goodbot "was the size and shape of a stocky black labrador with a flat face consisting of two shining eyes and a fixed smile. It made it's way to the gate on wheels and rose to smoothly unlatch it. Then it activated its legs to navigate the step and padded towards Eddie like a cat approaching prey. ... (the treat) had to be eaten within the hour, it must be something fresh and delicious. ...the smell was something else - an aroma of fried chicken, freshly baked bread and something mysterious but delicious. ... Maybe it would taste as good as it smelt, instead of as bad as it looked. It did! Wow! WOW!"

Eddie does not question this gift from his dad even though his dad has never sent a food gift like this before and more importantly his father never uses and is even suspicious of Goodbots.

Meanwhile a boy named Theo is missing. You also need to know Eddie's mother works as a fact checker for an organisation called TruthUp because in the past "deep fakes and news-bots had turned the world upside down. No one had been able to trust a single thing they read or watched. TruthUp was trying to make news real again." Luckily Eddie has help to solve or partly solve all of this, his own body changes and the missing boy,  from his friend Kit, Kit's sister Romy and his own computer-game playing brother Jude. 

There is an interesting if somewhat minor theme explored in this story is about politics. A new political party has emerged - it is called Revive and it consists of dead former Prime Ministers. That part did give me a jolt. 

Blurb from author page: It’s 2045 and the world is full of tech. Eddie has a bot in his ear giving him advice all day, a bathroom scale that identifies illnesses, and classroom bots keeping track of him at school. The streets are full of delivery bots and game tech is amazing. But tech can’t help the police find a missing boy called Theo, who was last seen at the river. When they abandon the search, Eddie and his friends sneak down to the river to look for clues. What they find doesn’t make any sense. Then strange things start happening to Eddie. He’s never been sporty but suddenly he’s a brilliant runner. When a friend is caught in the bottom of the pool, Eddie rescues her from drowning by holding his breath for a suspiciously long amount of time. He has excellent night vision – and there are hair-like feathers growing out of his skin. It’s exciting. It’s terrifying. How can it be both? And what do the changes in Eddie have to do with Theo’s disappearance?

I did read this book quite quickly which means the story held my attention and I did enjoy the "hopefully invented" world of the future. Sadly though, two things let this book down - one, in my view, is the pastel colour choice for the cover and the second is the rushed and slightly unresolved ending - I don't think a sequel is planned. By the end of the book (spoiler alert) I was still unsure why the kids had been used in this experiment run by Theo's parents. I did find a reviewer who loved the cover - these things are always so subjective and personal. You can read more plot details here. Here is a Q and A with Emil Gale. Emily also talks about her book on this podcast (40+ minutes).

The Wild Unknown is a thrilling and suspenseful novel that explores the consequences of AI reliance and how this will shape our future. Emily Gale opens up a discussion, prompting children to ask what the benefits of AI are, and what should they be concerned about? She also hints at how AI might influence people in complex spaces, such as political parties misusing it for their own ends, or the media manipulating it. Through Eddie’s transformation and search for Theo, Gale highlights the importance of human relationships, of being able to turn to each other for help and support, and the beauty of the natural world. For ages 9+.  Readings Melbourne

(Its's) an unsettling, yet a compelling mystery that reminds us that human connection, using our own smarts and working together is better and more effective than the most up-to-date technology. It shows that we need a balance, to save humanity, to keep the world safe, and to make sure we don’t destroy the environment. This is in part a warning, and in part an examination of what could happen if gene modification and manipulation become weapons against humanity. Emily Gale has done a wonderful job of exploring this, departing from her usual historical fiction which I adore. A great example of not letting technology rule our lives. The Book Muse

The manipulation of humans using animal parts reminded me of this very old book (part of a series of three):