Man on the Moon

Story

Bob wears a man on the moon suit and takes a rocket ship to work every morning! It’s his job to keep the moon clean and tidy and to entertain the tourists from earth. He’s often asked about aliens, but Bob says aliens don’t exist…or do they?

Why we chose it

A mix of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Bob is an ordinary man with a most extraordinary job. The illustrations are bold and full of background details – so the reader sometimes knows more about what is happening than Bob does.

Where it came from

Simon Bartram lives in Newcastle with his wife and son. He has a degree in illustration and his art style is heavily influenced by artists such as Peter Blake, Peter Howson, Stanley Spencer and Reg Cartwright. Bartram’s detailed drawings and vivid use of colour lend themselves perfectly to children’s picture books. His own recollections of early reading centre around the books of Richard Scarry, Road Dahl and Sir Quentin Blake.

Where it went next

Man on the Moon (a Day in the Life of Bob) won the Blue Peter Book of the Year award in 2004 and became recommended reading material to support areas of Literacy and Numeracy as part of the UK's National Curriculum. It was reprinted in 2004 and shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal the same year.

Associated stories

Bartram’s retelling of the children's classic Pinocchio was runner up for the 1999 Mother Goose Award and he has a series of books which follow Bob the astronaut, including Bob’s Best Friend Ever and Bob and the Moon Tree Mystery. Dougal the Deep Sea Diver tells the story of Bob’s cousin Dougal.