My daughter, who loves all animal-related things, enjoyed this book when we read it together. She especially liked the kittens' adventures. And that led to a discussion of the real-world contributions of animals to the space program, such as the Russian space dogs.

The fourth (and final?) volume of the Space Cat series includes not only Flyball's new female friend, Moofa (from Mars), but also a pair of kittens - Moofa and Flyball's children.

The kittens, Marty and Tailspin, have quickly become space travelers, with Space Cat and Moofa showing them how to handle themselves in space. And now, in this volume, they join Colonel Fred Stone and his friend Bill on a trip to Alpha Centauri.

Along the way, the now sizable party investigate a completely new, heretofore unnamed planet. This is what being space explorers is all about after all. And what they find is a fascinating array of animals that look exactly like Earth's pre-historic animals. There are tyrannosaurs and pterodactyls and triceratops and stegosaurus'. It's like traveling to Earth's past. And as exciting as it may be to see these animals up close, Tailspin and Marty are still just a pair of kittens who don't care too much about what they see and, like the siblings they are, they rough-house and wander off. But this is a dangerous planet to become lost on! Fred and Bill have to take their helicopter out of the spaceship in order to search for them!

I've enjoyed these Space Cat books, despite the quite obvious scientific flaws. It predates most of what we know about the planets and satellites in our solar system and it's fantasy for young children - books to get the imagination flowing.

And that's part of the problem with this title. It really lacks imagination. Of all the wild and crazy things author Ruthven Todd could put on this new planet (and he's already come up with some pretty crazy things), he instead falls back to something old. Yes, dinosaurs have captured children's imagination for about as long as we've known about them, but this one just doesn't fit well within the Space Cat series.

It doesn't help that we're almost trying to do too much, with the addition of the kittens, the introduction of a new human, and visiting a planet of dinosaurs. We're trying to hold on to the attention of young children after all. (And today's youngsters have a very short attention span.)

I've enjoyed this series quite a bit and I'm glad to have this fourth book if just to keep the collection complete, but as a book/story, this one is easily the weakest of the lot. As always, though, Paul Galdone's art is funny and captivating.

Looking for a good book? Space Cat and the Kittens by Ruthven Todd and Paul Galdone is not quite as enjoyable as the earlier books in the series, but a moderately fun reprint from the 1950's.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful continuation of the story of Flyball and his family's adventures in Space.This time they land on a planet near Alpha Centauri that is small and earth-like. The kittens go exploring and first meet up with a tiny horse with five toes. Next the spacemen and spacecats are attacked by tiny pterodactyls and they begin to realize that this planet has tiny versions of several dinosaurs that had existed on earth thousands of years ago but instead of being the giant terrifying monsters of earth, they are all miniature but some are still frightening.
These books were originally written in 1957 and show a brilliant vision for the future of space travel (a science that was in it's infancy at the time. It is also cool to note that Elon Musk is designing a vehicle that lands and takes off very much like the one featured in this book. The books are chapter books meant for young readers , but equally enjoyable for all. There are gentle lessons included especially through the actions of the kittens like obey your parents,and don't wander off.
This is just a beautiful series of early science fiction writing!!

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is the third Space Cat adventure and it is just as much fun as the first two. Flyball and his Martian mate Moofa have two kittens. These two, despite being born in space and therefore rather blasé about the wonders of space travel, are normal kittens.. That means they are mischievious and bound to get into trouble. Flyball who could be a rascal himself when he was younger has his paws full trying to keep those two in line.
They both time and space travel to a world similar to our own Earth but in prehistoric times. That means they meet all sorts of dinosaurs but in miniature form. Some of them are quite friendly and cute. Others are downright fierce and vicious even though they are smaller than they were on Earth. When the two kittens escape parental and human observation, they are off. They may not look for trouble but trouble will find them. Thankfully, Flyball and Fred are able to rescue the kittens before anything serious befalls them.
These stories are charming with adorable artwork accompanying the narrative. It is fun to read them from the vantage point of what we now know of space. They are great books for both the young and young at heart.
I give it five purrs and two paws up.

I love everything about this book. The illustrations are reminiscent of retro space ads and slogans. It gave me a very Future World vibe. The content was very in-depth, though it was not confusing. The themes of family and strength were something my daughter (6) could grasp. We both especially loved the choice of kittens. This is a title that so many ages can thoroughly enjoy.

Space Cat and the Kittens was a really good book. Flyball and Moofa are parents now, and that changes how they live their lives. Their kittens are the adventurous ones now, and this often gets them into all kinds of trouble. The planet they all explore this time is farther than any of them have gone before, and turns out to be full of some unusual creatures. This is their most amazing adventure yet and is a fitting end to this series. If you liked the previous Space Cat books then you will definitely want to read this one.

While this is definitely a wonderful series all around, this last book is undoubtedly the weakest; it lacks the imagination and the spark of the previous three. The ending is abrupt and a focus on the kittens being stupid and therefore leading to life-threatening situations is not nearly as fun as Flyball exploring new worlds. As well, even the 'new world' here is just a retread of ancient Earth history rather than creating a new environment as before. It feels a bit lazy - even the ending is abrupt and clipped.

Story: Flyball and Moofa find themselves on another mission - this time to explore an entirely new (unnamed) planet! Of course, they will have to take the kittens with them - who knows what mischief they will get into otherwise! But once on the planet, the kittens find a way to escape the close scrutiny of both parents and humans - and find themselves needing to be rescued!

I would have loved to be a kid in 1958 and had these read to me. There had been no man on the moon yet and we barely understood the planets and space travel. Of course, science isn't a requisite in children's fantasy books but I can see where some parents would be hesitant to read to their kids such a fanciful take on science - a time before microbes, foreign diseases, etc. etc. became known. We can only smile today that the only requisite needed to explore a new planet is air.

So although the naughty kitten adventure is likely the weakest in the series, I still greatly enjoyed reading a story from a time before science became...hard. The illustrations are cute and engaging and it's fun to follow the adventures of a fearless space cat. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I so enjoyed these stories. I only wish there were more. This one ends with you hanging a bit. Fred and Flyball et al are still on the planet and you don't know for how much longer or what else might happen. So much more could be done but I'm reading it as an adult so I guess that makes a difference.

This was a fast and cute read.
Definitely a great book to instill a love of reading in a child.
Going by the description I assumed there would be more pictures.
The illustrations were great, I just wish there had been more.