Cosmic Creatures: The Runaway Rumblebear

Tom Huddleston's Cosmic Creatures: The Runaway Rumblebear is a cosy space adventure for 5 year olds about a girl who finds the tiny creature eating all the settlers' food.

What happens

Charlie is ten and lives on the planet Vela, with twin suns, five moons and a floating robot called Random for a best friend. Her family came from Earth two years ago, with the very first settlers.

Food is tricky. The machine that could make anything (comet-candy, Martian meatballs) has broken down. Now whole barns of crops keep vanishing. Then every shimmer-apple in the orchard disappears while Charlie is busy picking.

She follows the trail into the forest and hears an ENORMOUS roar. Out comes something the size of a puppy. Red fur, a silver stripe, big green eyes, and a roar that nearly knocks her over.

She calls him Silver. He's only a baby and he's lost his pack, so Charlie is determined to get him home. First, though, she has to hide him. That's not easy when he eats everything in sight and roars loudest when he's happy!

Captain Robertson is furious about the thieves in "his" forest. So Silver ends up stuffed in Random's storage hatch. When a rumble comes out of it, Random apologises and says it must be something he ate (robots don't eat).

It's a very gentle sort of science fiction. There's a three-headed alpaca, a glowing mooncalf and a little brother who turns out to be rather useful. Most chapters have a laugh and a bit of a chase.

Underneath the fun there's a kind thought too. Charlie wants to understand Silver and his family, not chase them away, and she keeps trying to see things from his side.

Would it make a good bedtime read? Definitely, as long as you're ready to do the roaring.

What to read next

For another space family and a lost baby creature who needs to get home, try The Prehistoric Planet. Zack's family have moved to the planet Nebulon, and a baby pterosaur has turned up with nobody knowing where it came from.