Review by Booklist Review
Ages 2-4. Right from the title-page illustration, a landscape created by horizontal bands of blue and green separated by a 1/4-inch-wide black strip, Barton revels in simplicity. A child who dreams of being an astronaut delivers the laconic text, a few words per page: ``I want to be up there / on a space mission / and have ready-to-eat meals / and sleep in zero gravity.'' Similar economy is evident in the artwork. Using the same wide, black line to define the shapes of people, settings, and equipment, Barton re-creates the look of many children's drawings without their tentativeness. A far cry from the pretty pictures usually offered for this age group, these illustrations are striking in their composition and in the use of flat, often dark areas of color. As a wish-fulfillment space saga for the youngest child, this graphically bold picture book will appeal to the many children who already inhabit outer space in their imaginary worlds. CP. Astronauts-Fiction [CIP] 87-24311
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1 Barton's thick-lined illustrations positively glow in this simple, lyrical picture book. A young girl declares her longing to ``fly on the shuttle into outer space,'' to live in zero gravity, ``put on a space suit , '' and ``help fix a satellite'' before coming back to Earth. Text is very briefa few words in bold face type per pagebut the familiar acts of eating, sleeping, and working become intense and special as she and the rest of the crew go about their business in the bright, stylized pictures. Beginning readers may stumble over some of the vocabulary, but the book's emotional appeal will have nearly everyone off and flying. John Peters, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In the bold, beautiful style made familiar in his other nonfiction for young children (e.g., Airport and Machines at Work), Barton follows a six-person crew (one--the narrator--female; two black) on a space shuttle mission. In depicting the takeoff; a cross-section of the shuttle with the whole crew in action; eating and sleeping; a space walk (to ""fix a satellite and build a factory in orbit""); and the astronauts gazing at the richly hued blue-and-green earth before returning to it, Barton's text and illustrations (outlined in very broad, black line) are models of elegant simplicity. A great introduction to a popular topic. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
