Moonshot

May 4, 2009
Several publishers are issuing children's books this season in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11
moon landing. Here are some that shine.
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11
Brian Floca
. Atheneum/Jackson
, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-4169-5046-2

Floca's rendition of Apollo 11
's journey to the moon is as poetic as it is historically resonant. The first page offers a quiet meditation: “High above/ there is the Moon,/ cold and quiet,/ no air, no life,/ but glowing in the sky,” followed by the astronauts preparing for the voyage and then a dramatic liftoff (“The rocket is released!”). Once in space, the lunar module, Eagle
—“a stranger ship, more bug than bird,/ a black and gold and folded spider”—locks onto the Columbia
. The subdued illustrations hold an undercurrent of emotion (as a family hears the report that the Eagle
has landed safely, the father wipes his eyes with awe and relief). A stirring depiction of a momentous event. Ages 4–7.

Starred review from March 1, 2009
Gr 2-5-Large in trim size as well as topic, this stirring account retraces "Apollo 11"'s historic mission in brief but precise detail, and also brilliantly captures the mighty scope and drama of the achievement. Rendered in delicate lines and subtly modulated watercolors, the eye-filling illustrations allow viewers to follow the three astronauts as they lumber aboard their spacecraft for the blastoff and ensuing weeklong journey ("]there's no fresh air outside the window;/after a week this small home will not smell so good./This is not why anyone/wants to be an astronaut"). They split up so that two can make their famous sortie, and then reunite for the return to "the good and lonely Earth, /glowing in the sky." Floca enhances his brief, poetic main text with an opening spread that illustrates each component of "Apollo 11", and a lucid closing summary of the entire Apollo program that, among other enlightening facts, includes a comment from Neil Armstrong about what he said versus what he meant to say when he stepped onto the lunar surface. Consider this commemoration of the first Moon landing's 40th anniversary as a spectacular alternative for younger readers to Catherine Thimmesh's "Team Moon" (Houghton, 2006)."John Peters, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2009
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* Forty years after NASAs Apollo 11 mission first landed astronauts on the moon, this striking nonfiction picture book takes young readers along for the ride. The moon shines down on Earth, where three men don spacesuits, climb into Columbia, and wait for liftoff. On a nearby beach, people gather to watch the rocket blast the astronauts into space. The astronauts fly to the moon, circle it, land on it, walk on its surface, and see the good and lonely Earth, glowing in the sky. After flying back to the orbiter, they return to Earth and splash down, home at last. An appended note discusses the mission in greater detail. Written with quiet dignity and a minimum of fuss, the main text is beautifully illustrated with line-and-wash artwork that provides human interest, technological details, and some visually stunning scenes. The books large format offers plenty of scope for double-page illustrations, and Floca makes the most of it, using the sequential nature of picture books to set up the more dramatic scenes and give them human context. The moving image of Earth seen from the moon, for instance, is preceded by a picture of a lone astronaut looking up. A handsome, intelligent book with a jacket thats well-nigh irresistible.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)