Children's sci fi book from 80s/90s with child on spaceship, food in pill form

[Lesley-Anne]

I read a very short light-hearted sci fi book aimed at 8 year olds in the late 80s or early 90s. I would love to be able to work out what it was. All I can remember is a spaceship landing, possibly on grass, and the child protagonist being taken on a journey. Food was in pill form, they looked into a mirror at some point in the story. There were simple illustrations.

[Ann]

Total guess, but maybe The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh? I wouldn't call it light hearted, but it's short, and when the spaceship lands they make a big deal out of the grass being made out of glass, so the landing on grass would have made a big impression.

A more light-hearted guess would be one of the My Robot Buddy books by Alfred Slote, maybe My Trip to Alpha 1 or C.O.L.A.R.: A Tale of Outer Space. The main character Jack has a robot lookalike named Danny One, so the looking in the mirror may have stuck out because he was comparing the ways in which they were identical.

[Lesley-Anne]

A chapter book. Probably quite new at the time. Almost certainly British.

[Rainbowheart]

Lesley-Anne, did you rule out Ann's suggestion of The Green Book?

That would be my guess as well.

[bookel]

Skiffy by William Mayne is aimed at that age, but can only check the sequel and saw no mention of pills, only packets.

[bookel]

Rebecca’s World: Journey to the Forbidden Planet
Rebecca's World, Journey to the Forbidden Planet
by Terry Nation
Another I haven't read but often asked about on book search forums.

[Genesistrine]

bookel wrote: "Rebecca’s World: Journey to the Forbidden Planet
Rebecca's World, Journey to the Forbidden Planet
by Terry Nation
Another I haven't read but often asked about on book search forums."

No spaceships and no pill food in that.

[bookel]

There's a series by Slobodkin on The space ship under the apple tree. Again yet to read. A search on that one in openlibrary only mentions concentrated food. There's something like a mirror.

[SBC]

The Space Ship Under the Apple Tree for the click