Menu
Grown-ups

Henry and the Crayon Spaceship

Cover art for Henry and the Crayon Spaceship

Book 1 · Free to read here. Paperback on its way.

It is bedtime, but Henry can't sleep. He is counting the stars, and he wants to see every one. So he takes his crayons, red, silver and blue, and draws a spaceship with a seat made for two. The drawing shimmers. It sparkles. It grows, right up to the ceiling and over Cecil's toes. "Come on, Cecil!" And a boy and his pug are off into the night: past the Sun's glowing face, round the planets one by one, out to where the Sun is just a spark, and on to the Milky Way, to sit side by side and watch. A hint before every page turn, a wonder after it, and a journey that always comes home to bed.

Ages: Ages 2 to 5, with a grown-up-led Together mode for younger children

Themes: Bedtime, Imagination, Space, Friendship, Coming home

Henry draws with: red, silver, blue crayons.

Start the adventureRead the illustrated storyRead the illustrated draft (PDF)Read on your Kindle (EPUB)Read together

Find a copy

Watch and read along

A reading of this book is being made. It will appear on Watch when it is ready.

Inside the companion

Read the complete illustrated draft on screen, or use Read Together for page cues and prediction pauses with your paper copy.The games take their shapes from the story; the passport collects 30 stamps for this adventure.

Buckle, Beep, Blast!

Buckle up, switch on the lights, start the engine and count down to blast off.

Cockpit sequence and WHOOSH/BEEP, page 6

Crayon Rocket Workshop

Draw with magic crayons. Every stroke sparkles and becomes real.

Henry draws the red, silver and blue spaceship; it grows magically, pages 3 to 5

Henry's Magic Crayon

Draw a rocket with the magic crayon, then press Make it magic, and your own drawing flies.

Henry draws a spaceship and it comes alive, pages 1 to 3

Guess the World

Cecil looks towards the worlds. Listen to the clue and choose which world is near.

The repeating prediction pages throughout the journey

Jupiter Moon Count

Give Jupiter the number of moons Henry asks for.

Jupiter's many moons, page 17

Save the Planets

Steer the crayon spaceship under the falling space rocks and catch them before they bump a planet.

The planets Henry visits, pages 7 to 25

Quiet Milky Way

Tap a few stars to hear soft sounds. Then just watch.

Silent wonder beyond the planets, page 26

Too Hot for Cecil!

Sort things that are hot or cold to touch.

Sun and Mercury caution, pages 7 to 9

Earth from Space

Find oceans, trees, clouds, mountains and home in a playful Earth scene.

Blue, green and white Earth, page 13

Mars Mountain Mission

Guide Cecil up the volcano using up, down and around.

Red Mars and the enormous volcano, page 15

Saturn Ring Builder

Place broad ring segments around Saturn and make patterns.

Glittering rings of ice and stone, page 19

Sideways Like Uranus

Turn the planet upright or sideways, then copy Cecil's roll with a grown-up.

Uranus spins on its side; Cecil copies it, page 21

Neptune Wind Ride

Steer the rocket through wide lanes while the wind gently pushes it.

Storms make the spaceship wobble; Henry reassures Cecil, page 23

Home Before Bed

Put the adventure pictures in story order.

The ship shrinks back into the drawing and Henry sleeps, pages 27 to 28

Crayon Invaders

Henry's crayon scribbles have escaped the sketchbook. Zap the one with the answer back into crayon dust.

Henry's crayon drawings come to life, pages 1 to 5

Space Rocks

Steer Henry's rocket through a drift of space rocks and zap the right ones, spelling out the planets.

The journey between the planets, pages 7 to 25

Comet Catcher

Throw a sparkle net to catch comets before they reach the planets, picking out the right answers.

Shooting stars over the Milky Way, page 26

Cecil Snake

Steer Cecil round Henry's bedroom to the right biscuit while a trail of paw prints follows him.

Bedtime in Henry's room, before the crayon magic, pages 1 to 3

Moon Lander

Bring Henry's rocket gently down on the landing pad with the right answer.

Flying the crayon spaceship between the planets

Memory Cards

Turn over two cards and find the pairs: three pairs for the littlest, up to ten for the oldest — Cecil, Henry, the rocket and more friends from the books.

Henry's room and the friends from his adventures, as cards to match.

Planet Merge

Drop crayon worlds into the jar. Two the same join into the next one up: stardust, an asteroid, Pluto, the Moon, the planets from Mercury to Jupiter.

Henry and Cecil fly the crayon rocket over a jar of worlds; two the same join into a bigger one, all the way up to Jupiter.

Crayon Ricochet

Aim Henry's bouncy crayon ball and bounce it off the walls, shelves and coat buttons. Every world it bumps floats home to the sky; knock a tower of sleepy blocks and its world floats free too.

Henry's crayon worlds have tumbled into his bedroom at night. Henry bounces his crayon ball off the walls to send each one floating back to the sky, while Cecil watches from his corner.

Planet Hop

Hold the sky and let go, or pick a hop button, to hop Henry from Earth to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Land in the middle for a Bullseye.

Henry hops from world to world on a trip out from Earth to Pluto, with space rocks for stepping stones, while Cecil cheers him on.

Crayon Boomerang

Henry points and his magic crayon boomerang flies along an arc: snip every party ribbon, bounce off sleepy clouds and bouncy pillows, pop surprise presents and set the moon, Saturn and the bird free from their strings.

Henry's room at night, full of the things his magic crayon drew: party ribbons, sleepy clouds, surprise presents and his paintings hanging on strings. Henry points, and his crayon boomerang flies there while Cecil cheers him on.

Star Climb

Tap to puff the rocket up. It sways from side to side by itself; time your taps to slip through the gaps between sleepy clouds and catch the stars. A bump just tumbles you down a little, and a soft cloud always catches a fall.

Henry's crayon rocket comes to life on the launch pad and climbs, with Henry and Cecil aboard, up through the sleepy clouds into space and all the way to the stars.

Sky Path

Tap a lane to steer Henry's rocket and catch the stars along a cloud path. Sleepy clouds just puff away when you bump them, and if you dip into a gap a cloud floats you back up. Each path ends under a rainbow at a new world.

Henry draws a cloud path across the night sky, and he and Cecil ride the crayon rocket along it to the Moon and the planets, with two friendly birds flying alongside.

Crayon Blocks

Tap a painted block, then tap the paper. Fill a whole row or column and it pops; Henry's crayon draws a world for the sketchbook strip. Henry points the way and Cecil cheers.

Henry's crayon blocks fill his squared paper at bedtime; every full row or column becomes a world from his journey, and his rocket tidies the paper when it gets full.

Henry's Bedtime Hop

Walk Henry to bed along the books and toys. Hop up steps, bounce on sleepy blocks and pillows, push a toy block to climb, ride Henry's crayon rocket and the moon, and pick up stars on the way.

It is bedtime in Henry's room. Henry hops along the books, pillows and toys to bed without touching the rug, and Cecil is waiting for him on the bed.

Cecil's Balloons

Puff up a crayon balloon and let it go. It floats up and pops on a treasure box, undoing a bow for every puff; open every box to fill Henry's sky with stars, the Moon and the planets.

At his bedroom window Henry draws balloons with his magic crayon and floats them up into the night sky to untie the treasure boxes, while Cecil watches and cheers.

Crayon Line

Fly Henry's rocket to the stars. Each star makes the crayon line longer; crossing your own line just carries on. Reach enough stars and they join into a constellation.

Henry and Cecil fly the crayon rocket through the Milky Way, drawing a crayon line from star to star; the stars they reach join up into a constellation, and the first one brings the sketched rocket to life.

Paint Pots

Tap a crayon whose path to the edge is clear. It rolls into the paint pot of its colour, and the pot splashes paint on the sleeping planets and stars until the whole sky is awake.

At bedtime Henry's crayons are in a tangle on the paper and the planets outside the window are fast asleep. Each crayon Henry frees rolls into its paint pot, and the paint wakes a planet or a star; a finished page brings his crayon rocket to life.

Paint Pop

Tap two or more matching pictures side by side to pop them: stars, birds, boats, trees, lollies and moons. Each one you pop colours in Henry's sketch until it comes to life.

Henry's crayon sketches come to life: pop matching pictures from the book and his rocket, his submarine and his jeep fill with colour, while Cecil cheers from the Show me button.

Tidy-Up Time

Steer the magic toy box around Henry's bedroom. Toys small enough tumble in, the box grows, and bigger toys fit in later: stars and keys first, a whale and the elephants last.

Henry's magic crayon draws a toy box on the bedroom floor. It tidies away the toys from all his adventures and grows as it goes, and a tidy room brings his crayon rocket, submarine or jeep to life.

Explorer stamps

The refrain

In the book: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Something small and grey is near!"
In the companion: "Come on, Cecil, look over here. Can you guess which world is near?"

In the second edition (October 2026) every guessing page gives a hint of the next world (small and grey, cloudy, blue and green, red, ENORMOUS, rings, rolling sideways, cold and blue, one last world). The companion keeps the full spoken question as its refrain; each read-together prompt quotes the book's own hint for that page.