On the Launch Pad by Michael Dahl

Ages 3–5 (works well down to about 2)

This is a countdown book. Twelve to one, then blastoff. Each number gets a spread showing a different part of preparing a rocket for launch. Twelve workers here, eleven switches there, two rocket boosters, one shuttle on the pad. Simple concept. It works.

But the art is what earns this book its shelf space. The illustrations are cut-paper collages, bold and flat, with that layered, handmade quality that makes every page feel like a poster you'd want to pin up in a kid's room. The colours are strong. Nothing wispy or watercolour-soft. A three-year-old can look at these pages and immediately understand what they're seeing, which is not always the case with space books that lean too hard into realism.

There's a clever extra layer, too. Each page hides the number somewhere in the artwork, tucked into a cloud or a piece of machinery. So once the counting becomes automatic (and it will, fast), your kid has a seek-and-find game built right in. Some of those hidden numbers are genuinely tricky. This is the thing that gives the book a second and third life, long after the novelty of counting down has worn off. You'll be surprised how many times your child drags this one out just to hunt for the sneaky seven.

Reading it aloud is a breeze. The sentences are short and punchy, easy to roll through even when your brain is half-asleep. You can get through the whole thing in about two minutes, which makes it a reliable bedtime closer when you're running on fumes. The countdown structure gives it natural momentum. Kids lean forward as the numbers get smaller. And the final page has you turning the book sideways for a vertical liftoff, which is one of those small physical moments that makes a child's face light up every single time.

One thing to know: there's not much of a story here. It's a counting book dressed in a rocket suit. If your child is the type who wants characters, a problem, a beginning and an end, this won't scratch that itch. The people on the pages are anonymous workers. Nobody has a name or a face you'll remember. That's fine for what the book is trying to do, but it means the emotional hold is thinner than something like Chris Hadfield's The Darkest Dark, which covers similar territory with a real narrative beating underneath it.

There are some space facts and an activity page tucked in at the back. Nice bonus, not the reason you'd buy it.

One thing worth mentioning: the crew shown throughout is nicely varied. Different skin tones, different hair, women, older workers with grey hair. It's done without fanfare, just baked quietly into the illustrations. The kind of representation that doesn't announce itself but registers.

This is a book for the kid who already likes rockets, or the kid you're trying to hook on counting backwards. It's for the parent who needs something short and satisfying at 7:45pm when everyone's fading. It probably won't become the favourite book in the house, but it'll get pulled off the shelf regularly, and you won't dread reading it. At 24 pages and under a tenner, that's a solid return.