Eight Days Gone

Master narrator George Guidall brings animation and historical solemnity to McReynolds's poem, which details the moon landing of 1969. He speaks each line distinctly with an understated and animated voice, leaving plenty of time between lines so that young listeners can pore over O'Rourke's illustrations and ponder each action of the Apollo 11 expedition. Sound effects are finely selected to underscore the meaning of specific events. A concluding author's note provides additional facts about the Apollo mission, the crew, the module's recovery, and of the importance of the mission to Kennedy's space plan of the 1960s. A.R. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

May 28, 2012
McReynolds, in her children’s book debut, offers a compact and rhythmic look at the first lunar landing 43 years out: “Launchpad countdown./ Smoke and flame./ Rumbling. Blasting./ Seizing fame.” The same four-line rhyme scheme continues throughout, from liftoff and moonwalk to splashdown and celebratory parade. The brisk recounting sometimes requires prior knowledge (or at least a parental conversation or two) to fully appreciate its pared-down nature; e.g., most younger readers won’t know that the landing was made on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility, which the author alludes to with the line, “Desolation./ Silent. Dark./ Tranquil sea./ Barren. Stark.” (McReynolds provides additional
details about the moon landing in an author’s note, and a bibliography suggests print and online resources for children.) Rendered in oil, O’Rourke’s (One Big Rain) flat, clean-lined cartoons have a speckled, airbrushed quality and are reminiscent of some of the Golden Book illustrations of the Apollo 11 mission’s era. A spread of a half-Earth hanging in black space as a single astronaut on the moon gazes toward it is awe-inspiring. The book’s small trim size echoes the condensed, yet evocative account found within. Ages 5–8.