Published By: Nosy Crow
Pages: 256
Released On: 13/08/2026
Reading Age: 9-12
11-year-old Luna dreams of becoming an astronaut and astronauts need to remain calm in a crisis… She knows for certain that the International Space Station will be over their house in ten days, so Dad will definitely be home by then. Won’t he?
But Dad left in the middle of the night. Nobody has heard from him, and nobody knows where he is.The only person Luna can talk to is her best friend, Casey. As he, Luna and her younger sister Jade piece together the clues Dad left behind, they embark on an unexpected adventure into the unknown…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Nosy Crow for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This was such a lovely book. It’s proof you don’t need to talk down to young readers, and that they can handle difficult subjects if delivered correctly.
It’s about friends, family, love, community, dreams, resilience, passion, what you’d do for the ones you love, and what you’d do for the truth.
I found it really moving. How to explain it without spoilers?….The family are going through some difficulties that then sadly impact upon the children. There, that’s vague enough. It’s handled very well, doesn’t get overwhelming, and feels very real.
The one sticking point I had was the link to space and astronauts. I understand that Luna dreams of being an astronaut, that’s fine, but at the start of each chapter there was a paragraph about an astronaut on the space station. I mean, I liked it, don’t get me wrong, I’m fascinated by space, but I was waiting for it to have an impact on the overall story but it didn’t really.
It’s often difficult as an adult to connect with a story narrated by children because we can’t identify with them. But Luna and Jade – Luna especially – are so fabulous that I was instantly sucked into their world and just wanted to give them both a comforting cuddle.
It’s a bit light on plot but compelling enough for this 33 year old to lose herself in.
Books By Your Bedside 