Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #10: Pirate Spacecat Attack product reviews

I think it tells a lot about a book when you ask your eight year old daughter if she enjoyed the book and she can basically tell you the whole plot, including the characters names, what they said word for word and even tell you a couple of jokes to throw in for good measure. For any kid to remember that much information shows it is a fantastic book for kids. Maybe its the page layout with funky writing or such visually detailed pictures or maybe its the fast paced action sequence or maybe its the 'mouse' words, but this book does cover a lot in such a short time.

My daughter read it alone over four nights and has already asked if she can take it to her Brownie Camp this weekend - she enjoyed it that much. The Geronimo Stilton books really are age appropriate for about eight to ten year old's. They are nice and simple and the chapters are not very long at all. The only complication comes from science terms, computer jargon or robot mishap, but with kids today it is easily understood. They are perfect for that independent child who is just starting to branch out alone.

I managed to read over two days as I must confess it did not hold my attention entirely, I prefer the Thea Sisters who are basically the same but more a girl version. Not being silly but I think Geronimo Stilton books are more aimed for boys, well that is the impression I receive anyway. The story is extremely clever and I do love the mousetastic words and how it is written. I also enjoy the pictures especially when you just read what a couple of them are doing and saying and then you look at the picture and there they all are in there only little square saying that exact same thing. I think the pictures are definitely a credit to the story as they convey so much. They are extremely vivid and eye catching.

As a whole I think the Geronimo Stilton/Thea Sister books are great for children. The stories are always interesting and on occasion educational. They usually have a bad dude involved which more often then not is a cat and they can all get into some hairy situations. Even kids who are not huge readers would enjoy this book because of the zany font and like I mentioned the pictures alone are great to look at. Although this story did not hold my attention completely I understand I am not the target audience but for my daughter it was one of her top reads.

The Geronimo Stilton series has long been a favourite with Mr Seven, so I thought it might be a good idea to ask his sister (Miss Five) if she would like to review this one with me. She has been enjoying listening to the series since the beginning of this year, when she first started school; Mr Seven has read them to her and so have the rest of the family. Now, armed with her very own Geronimo Stilton book, she was determined to learn to read it. She followed along with the text as I read it to her and was excited when she was able to read some of the words herself.

This book is all about the adventures of Geronimo Stiltonix as he tries to sort out the problems with Hologramix, the computer that gets stolen while it is being repaired and then gets all its components in a twist. Miss Five was well able to follow the story: she is not slow to ask questions, and soon had her head round the idea of a computer malfunction. She loved the idea of a space ship being called Mousestar 1, and was intrigued by the idea of Geronimo, the ship's captain, having a robot to help out.

She wondered why everyone had a name ending in -ix, however, which seemed a little strange. We talked about surnames starting with "O" or "Mac" or ending with "son", and she thought perhaps it meant that the "-ix" people all came from the same country originally. That seemed like a pretty fair explanation to me.

The baby bird hologram caused lots of giggles. Miss Five liked the riddles and thought she might try a couple on her friends at school. The other thing that caught her fancy was the idea of having a robot dog as it would not need to be taken for a walk so she could keep it in her room! I was not sure her parents would approve of a hyperactive dog in the house, even if it did not need regular walks, but somehow I don't think that will be happening anyway. She was taken by the diagram of the interior of MouseStar 1 and thought it might be a good way to reorganise her cousin's caravan to make it more interesting.

Without giving away the ending, I would like to share that Miss Five's reaction was one of utter delight. She thought it was a great way to punish the bad guys without actually hurting them. But I can't say any more - you need to read it for yourself!