Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca

Book Jacket

"We choose to go to the Moon.  We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

--John F. Kennedy, 1961

Simply told, grandly shown, here for a new generation of readers and explorers is the story of Apollo 11.  Here are the steady astronauts, the ROAR of rockets, and the silence of the Moon.  Here is a challenge met, a journey made, and a view of home, seen whole, from far away.

Review

Despite the fact that I am a huge Doctor Who fan, I've never been much interested in space travel.  I realize that traveling to and landing on the moon is a huge accomplishment, but let's go further!  Let's explore our planets, and other galaxies!  Apparently I have interplanetary ADD.

Still.  This is a fantastic book in terms of telling the story of Apollo 11 for young children.  The strangeness of it all is captured quite well, and the ways in which a rocket and takeoff function are very well explained.  I even learned quite a bit!  But I am left with one huge question--are all those parts of the rocket that were shed throughout the journey to the moon left as space junk?  Are we littering space with huge rockets?  Kind of sad, and also weird.

I was a little surprised that there were no real pictures at any point in the book.  I think cartoons were a wise choice, because there likely aren't actually pictures of all the details the book describes.  But I would have liked a real photo of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin at the end, maybe.

Three out of five sleep restraints.

Release Date: April 2009
Reading Level: Grade 2+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: MONARCH