“I must confess, at first glance I thought this a rather ordinary planet.” A tiny, orange, bug-eyed “spaceman” peers out of a spaceship at planet Earth. His job is to collect soil samples. “But once in a very rare while, one encounters something special. Something that causes one to forget all about soil samples …” That “something” is a vibrant red flower taller than the spaceman himself. As he admires said flower, a bird makes away with his spaceship. With no other course of action, the spaceman “follow[s] the winged bandit into the unknown” and is startled by a “hideous beast” (a dog), from which he flees in fright. When the sun rises, he finds himself surrounded by “a fantastical array of creatures,” including a butterfly that gives him a lift before dropping him unceremoniously into a pond. And who should fetch him from the water? The hideous beast, of course, who turns out to be “not without its charms.” Enjoying the company of the dog, the spaceman spots his ship in the tree above. He knows he has responsibilities, but what if the ship were to just … get knocked into the water? “Then here I must stay. In this extraordinary place. Laughing and playing. And enjoying the gentle breeze with my friend.” Funny and unexpectedly sweet, the spaceman’s formal, observational tone of voice offers a new perspective on the natural “specimens” around us that we may take for granted.

Lovingly illustrated, this wry and gentle fantasy will speak to adults as well as children--and cast the familiar in an astonishing new light.

A tiny Spaceman arrives on a new planet, ready to perform his monotonous tasks--collecting samples, labeling and filing them, and moving on to the next planet. But pausing to look around, the Spaceman is dazzled by the beauty of his surroundings. And when a large bird makes off with his ship, he's forced to venture out into this new world--planet Earth--on foot. Marveling at a varied landscape of flowers, butterflies, and other wondrous creatures, he finds a pond to float in and a goofy, slobbery beast who seems to want to be his friend. Could it be that the Spaceman has found a new home? This simple and sophisticated story filled with deadpan humor offers surprises on each lively spread. From a veteran creator comes a delightfully droll story radiating warmth and the wonder of the new, reminding us to look up from our mundane lives and embrace discovery.