Endurance, Young Readers Edition

July 15, 2018
Kelly recalls piloting space shuttles and living aboard the International Space Station.Pared down from the 2017 version for adults, stripped of its profanity, and rearranged into a linear narrative, this memoir still manages to be slow off the launch pad, woodenly conventional (if infused with deadpan humor), and anticlimactic at the close. Kelly begins with his very earliest memories and traces his youth from an epiphanic encounter with Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff ("I closed the book that night a different person") to military-style nautical training ("a different person") and graduation from New York's Maritime College ("a completely different person"). Experiences as a U.S. Navy test pilot led to astronaut training, two shuttle flights, and two ISS gigs. In an apparent bid for attention from young readers he comes off throughout as positively obsessed with space toilets and the diapers American astronauts wear when bathroom trips are not an option. Of (perhaps) greater interest are his memories of working and living with colleagues from Russia and other countries after the space shuttle program ended. These are enlivened by comments about space food ("The Russians also have something called 'the Appetizing Appetizer, ' which it is not") and other details seldom if ever found in other astronaut biographies. He closes with a tally of general-issue life lessons. Finished photos and backmatter not seen.Occasionally amusing, rarely fresh, this expands the author's picture-book account, My Journey to the Stars (illustrated by André Ceolin, 2017), without adding much significant. (Memoir. 10-16)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2018

Gr 6 Up-Kelly spent a year in space onboard the International Space Station (ISS), but that is just one of his incredible achievements. Kelly and his twin brother Mark are both celebrated space travelers, but they did not journey the same path, and Kelly does a wonderful job of detailing his rockier start. Good grades and success seemed far away when he first picked up a copy of Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff; Kelly was failing his premed classes and was directionless when he read Wolfe's account of the hardships early astronauts endured. The narrative details heartaches, tragedies, close calls, and his time onboard ISS. Kelly's story is relatable and the plot mostly focuses on showing young people the amount of hard work he had to do to achieve his dream, while simultaneously making sure readers understand that it's never too late to start a new path. Photos are included throughout. VERDICT An engaging and high-flying read for nonfiction and space lovers alike. A fine addition to large nonfiction collections.-Traci Glass, Multnomah County Library, OR

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2018
Grades 6-9 Kelly, the author of My Journey to the Stars (2017), an autobiographical picture book, now presents a young readers' edition of Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery (2017). Like the original book, it traces Kelly's childhood, his initially unpromising academic background, and what motivated him to change. But mainly, it focuses on his years as an astronaut and the accomplishment for which he's best known, living for almost a year continuously on the International Space Station (ISS). Few people have such an unusual story to tell, and Kelly makes the most of his experiences as an astronaut, offering vividly detailed accounts of daily life in orbit, anecdotes about hair-raising moments during space walks and reentry, and heartening stories of cooperation between Russians and Americans working and living together on the ISS. Black-and-white photos appear throughout the book, and a 16-page insert offers color photos. While the amount of detail may be daunting for some readers, those who are intrigued by space travel will find this a fascinating book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)