I looked through this with my 4 year old and now she is asking lots of questions about space! And she wants to see the book in person.
This is beautifully illustrated and jam packed with information about space rovers and our understanding of planets in our solar system. We really liked the story of Oppy that was delivered along with all the science.

Perfect for young readers with a keen interest in space exploration, and science.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

This book shows a cute Rover exploring Mars. It shows what it would look like walking around Mars. Also, how people on Earth would help the Rover move around. This would be a wonderful science book for the classroom as a read a loud.

I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully illustrated and jam packed with information about the part that space rovers play in our understanding of planets in our solar system. All delivered with a heart warming story to back up the science.

Perfect for young readers with a keen interest in space, exploration, science and engineering.

My 4 year old and I read this book. He loved learning about Oppy through this fictionalized story of the Mars Opportunity Rover. He especially loved the real pictures at the end. This is a great read for little ones who are excited about space!

I LOVED this children’s book- it is simple to understand and provides so many opportunities (no pun intended) for curiosity and questions. These types of stories can create a lifetime of interest! I will absolutely buy this book when released and I look forward to sharing it with my class!

This book is such a great way to share information about space science with children. The story is told in two different levels, allowing adults to share the basic story and/or additional bits of information, depending on the the child. The story does a great job of incorporating information about Oppy's research in an understandable way and making Oppy a likeable character that children will cheer for. Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for allowing me to review this ARC title. Can't wait to get it for my library's collection!

A very cute & informative book. I love that my son is learning real and scientific information while he’s getting a fun story at the same time.

I consider education in Science essential for children, who after all will be the Scientists and Thinkers of our Future. What a great way to learn is presented by this encouraging picture-and-text story of the Mars Opportunity Rover.

Good Night, Oppy is such a fun book. I know that my kids will enjoy it. We’re studying space so it fits right in with what we’re learning.

I will be purchasing this book for my classroom. I love how the author made the Mars rover into a main character. The personification and accuracy of what Opportunity did was fantastic.

As a reading educator, I both absolutely <em>adore</em> and am kind of disappointed by<em> </em>James McGowan's <em>Good Night, Oppy!</em> Illustrated by Graham Carter, this book had a serious amount of potential. A science-education focused and downright <em>adorable</em> fictionalized story about the Mars rover, Opportunity, sounds amazing. But, unfortunately, it had a few problems.

<b>The Language</b>

I always come back to this when I'm reviewing children's books. The language in <em>Good Night, Oppy!</em> was advanced. This isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes children's books are meant to be read to children. And it's okay that they can't read it themselves. But I do think that there needs to be a conversation about advanced language and how to present it.

You see, <em>Good Night, Oppy!</em> features language like uninhabitable, transmit, roused, and enveloped. And it doesn't explain what these words mean. Sure, parents could always define these words for their kids, but I'll ask this: which parents are going to isolate these specific words and ask their kids if they understand what they mean? Are all the kids going to ask?

I don't, personally, thing that these words shouldn't be part of the book. In fact, I love that they are. But I wish that the book took time to define them to the children. It's not that hard to add "that means living beings can't survive there" after introducing a word like <em>uninhabitable</em>.

<b>The Science and the Artwork</b>

This part of the book was phenomenal. I adored the story of Oppy's detective and scientific work. In many ways, it was thoroughly authentic and accurate. It's unquestionable that there is a massive <em>opportunity</em> for children to learn from reading a book like this. And I sincerely hope that this becomes the favorite book of many young readers. I even hope this to the point that I intend to one day have it on my shelf for my future child.

The pictures were gorgeous and illustrated Oppy's wonderful journey in a wonderfully creative and exciting way. I have no doubt that kids are going to fall utterly in love with this adorable Mars rover. I can already imagine how wonderful it would be if there was a stuffed toy to go along with this book. It's that perfect to me.

<b>As An Educator</b>

In the end, I did really love this book. And the one area in which I do find fault with the book is an area that I, as a parent, would circumvent. I would pause in the middle of the story and ask my child if they had a picture for what groundbreaking means. I would sit and have a conversation with them about how to imagine a world that's uninhabitable. And I think, depending on the age of the child you're reading this book to, they might already understand some of this language.

But, for non-space fanatic young readers, I do feel that certain things should've been explained a little better. I also probably would have made the text less dense on numerous pages, perhaps included some more artwork in order to achieve that goal. It's a great book, don't get me wrong. But I do feel it's one that many parents are going to have to supplement with their kids and not all parents are going to think to do so.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

Thoroughly enjoyed this book about Opportunity and the exploration of Mars. The visual graphics were amazing! My young readers ages 7 and 8 thought the book was very informative and were extremely sad to learn about Oppy’s and the dust storm. Overall this book had easy to read content, kept the non-fiction portion of the story understandable and had very appealing illustrations. We wished it was a little bit longer.

A fictionalized account of the Mars rover Opportunity, this is a great book to get kids interested in science and space. There is humor and heart found within these pages as well as great facts.

Good Night, Oppy! is a delightful children's book about Oppy's time on Mars. I read it to my 4 year old, space obsessed, son and we both loved it. We loved the story and also loved that there were also facts alongside the story and the illustrations were beautiful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC.

Who didn’t feel something when we sang to Opportunity for the last time? This picture book is great to explain to children how we are slowly advancing our Mars exploration but also made me cry a little because of our wonderful space robot friend.

This is a children's book that I read to my twin boys. I have to say I love all the facts in this book, and the pictures where so cute and cool. I loved this book so much, and my boys also loved it so much. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher or author via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy

This book was so cute, I absolutely loved it. I remember hearing about this back when it all happened and I remembered being sad for Oppy and this book reminded me about it all over again. I actually didn’t know why Opportunity stopped working so this was kind of an informative read for me.

For starters, I loved how this book could be a read to several different ages. There are main bits of text which are bigger and bolder which tells the story of Oppy. In addition to this, there are smaller text pieces that go into more detail that adds more of the nonfiction information into the story. With this, you could read just the main story parts, the main story with the additional information, or the main story and then go back and look at the additional information. This makes the story super versatile for different ages.

The story of Oppy was told in a simple manner with added humor which made it an entertaining and intriguing read. It can be difficult for children to read nonfiction books so this is a great way for children to learn about Opportunity that will hold their attention better.

At the end of the story, the author added 3 images of Oppy and pictures she took on Mars. This would be great paired with a science lesson. A teacher can read this book and show their students the pictures and then go online to find more pictures and videos.

Lastly, the art style in this book is my absolute favorite. I love all of the pictures and the use of colors. I’m in love with it. I also noticed when one of the pictures showed people working at NASA, one of the characters was in a wheelchair. I always love seeing different types of representation so this was nice to see.

I definitely recommend this book to those who have kids that are interested in space or to an elementary school teacher that talks about Mars, space, or Opportunity. A great children’s book!!

A very sweet and fun story about a space exploration robot’s time in space! A fun adventure and a great read for kids! Also the artwork is just adorable!



*Thanks Netgalley and Astra Publishing House for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*