There's Nothing to Do on Mars

Written by Chris Gall

Narrated by James Colby

This rollicking adventure for children comes from the pen of award-winning illustrator and author Chris Gall. Davey Martin just blasted off to Mars with his family and his robot dog Polaris. He thought it would be a great place to have adventures, but actually, it's kind of boring. What will he do? This book is sure to encourage children to be curious about their world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 7, 2008
• ISBN: 9781436197793

Chris Gall

Chris Gall has been drawing pictures for as long as he can remember. When he was caught doodling on his desk in second grade, his teacher suggested that he might become an artist some day, then made him clean all the desks in the classroom. In seventh grade, Chris won a Read Magazine Young Writers Award, and that inspired him to create stories to go with his art. After graduating from the University of Arizona, Chris became an award-winning, internationally recognized illustrator, and his artwork has been shown in almost every publication in America, including Time, Newsweek, People, Fortune, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. In 2004, his first picture book, America the Beautiful, became a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year, and his career in children’s publishing began. Since then he has authored and illustrated more than a dozen books, including the acclaimed Dinotrux, a 2009 Publishers Weekly Best Children’s book, Dog Vs. Cat, Awesome Dawson, Substitute Creacher, Nanobots, The Littlest Train, and Go For the Moon. In 2015 Dreamworks Animation adapted Dinotrux into a television series for Netflix. Chris lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Reviews for There's Nothing to Do on Mars

[humouress · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read There's Nothing to do on Mars several times to my youngest. I really like the way it's set out, with text next to large pictures reminiscent of 1950's style comic strips (Buck Rogers et al). It works well for him, and I think (in my fond imagination) it would also be interesting for my elder one, and would subtly impart information about Mars (Mars is red, it suffers from dust storms, has two moons, etc).The story is about a boy, Davey Martin, who moves to Mars with his parents. At first he's really bored, so his parents tell him to go out and play, and he ends up having all kinds of Martian adventures with his dog (which happens to be a robot).It's a futuristic story told with old fashioned images. I found the pictures very clever. There is one where he finds an 'old toy', but we can see the NASA logo on its side, and realise it's a Mars rover. Even the endpapers are (red) covered in drawings and information, purporting to be his diary. And I love the first illustration, which shows their Airstream trailer (camper van) - with rocket blasters underneath, lifting off from Earth.

[hudshh01 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book’s illustrations are fun and remind me of a comic book. This would be a fun story to read to students as they were studying about the different planets. Although, the book isn’t all about the details and facts of Mars, with the fun story about the little boy the book does share some information of what it is like to live on Mars. The story is definitely not realistic but it is a fun way for students to think about planets.