Review by New York Times Review
Viva's debut, "Along a Long Road," was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2011, and he brings that same visual audacity and forward momentum to his first early reader. Told in full spreads and comic-book-style panels, the story of a boy in a bat T-shirt and his mouse takes readers aboard a small boat headed to Antarctica. The mouse is initially reluctant, but the boy eventually wins him over with a swim in a wondrous volcanic lagoon. What child wouldn't be on board for that? MOUSETRONAUT Based on a (Partially) True Story. By Mark Kelly. Illustrated by C.F. Payne. 40 pp. A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Here the mouse is headed in the opposite direction. This first children's book by Kelly, a retired astronaut and husband of former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, builds on his experience with real mice aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Eighteen of them. In this winning story there are she, and as the smallest one, Meteor gets to perform his own special mission. After helping the astronauts out of a potential Apollo 13 calamity, Meteor is declared a hero - sure to please many fellow pipsqueaks back on Earth. THE ODYSSEY By Gillian Cross. Illustrated by Neil Packer. 170 pp. Candlewick Press. $19.99. (Middle grade; ages 8 to 18) Cross, winner of the prestigious Carnegie Medal for children's books, dives right into Odysseus' tale with a brief description of how the "cleverest of all the kings of ancient Greece" was called to war but was desperate to get home by Chapter 2. Cross makes the story lively and accessible, though children who haven't brushed up on their Rick Riordan may need guidance. Packer's drawings, looking alternately like decorated urns, Greek friezes, Byzantine icons and 19th-century caricature, hit an occasional off note. But nobody said the Cyclops was pretty. THE IMPOSSIBLE RESCUE The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure. By Martin W. Sandler. Illustrated. 163 pp. Candlewick Press. $22.99. (Middle grade; ages 10 to 14) Believe it or not, the Arctic was once really, really cold. But that's far from the only hard-to-fathom aspect of this outstanding book. An excellent story to match, if not one-up, Shackleton's misadventures on the opposite pole, Sandler's latest is the gripping, true account of a mission to rescue eight whaling ships off the coast of Alaska in 1897. Containing everything from presidential hubris to treacherous storms, ice packs, herds of reindeer and miserable sled dogs worked in brutal, dead-of-winter conditions - much of it photographed by participants - "The Impossible Rescue" is top-notch history. Smart, well written, meticulously researched and a lot of fun. THE ADVENTURES OF ACHILLES Retold by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden. Illustrated by Carole Hénaff. 96 pp. Barefoot Books. $23.99. (Middle grade; ages 10 to 18) Another hero in another far-flung epic. This richly detailed and lavishly illustrated edition, by the accomplished British storytellers Lupton and Morden, is well suited to mythology newbies, beginning with a helpful introduction to the gods of Olympus and the origins of the Trojan War. Unlike many accounts, this telling takes its time with Achilles' childhood, including his mother's repeated kidnappings of the young boy, and his five years spent in drag. But there is also plenty of adventure and the inevitable bloodshed on hand. The book includes two CDs narrated by the authors. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 14, 2012]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In an afterword, former astronaut Kelly (who is also the husband of Gabrielle Giffords) recalls that on his first Endeavor flight, the research mice on board would have nothing to do with weightlessness and clung to the mesh of their cage for the entire mission-except one, "smaller than the rest, [who] seemed to enjoy the experience and effortlessly floated around the cage." Inspired by this real-life mouse, Kelly's first children's book tells the story of Meteor, a lightly anthropomorphized rodent who turns his tininess into an advantage when an important key gets stuck in a crack between two monitors. The understated, quietly intense prose (" `This isn't good,' says the commander. `We need that key back' ") is just right for the particular breed of hero that is the American astronaut, and the narrative stakes are just high enough for the younger end of the target audience. Payne (Hide-and-Squeak) contributes muscular, handsomely textured images and vivid portraits that make it absolutely clear that space travel is a larger-than-life adventure. Ages 4-8. Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Trained with human astronauts, a small mouse named Meteor joins a space shuttle crew and rescues the mission by going where no mouse (or man) has gone before. A soaring adventure, written by a retired astronaut and illustrated in crisp, accurate detail. Fans take note: Meteor will be going to Mars in a new voyage this fall! (c) Copyright 2013. 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
Diminutive size proves to be an advantage on a shuttle mission. Meteor the mouse would dearly love to join the shuttle crew, but all the other mice know he's too small. The human shuttle commander's had his eye on Meteor, though, and seeing his motivation, chooses him for one of the six mouse spots. Meteor is such a "natural" in zero gravity, he's allowed out of the cage, aka the Mouse Hotel. The human astronauts are busy on spacewalks and conducting experiments, but there's not much for Meteor to do. When the key to the control panel becomes stuck in a tight spot, the commander says, "This isn't good." Human fingers are too thick, but Meteor saves the day. Kelly, a retired astronaut, puts his expertise to work, naturally sliding the tiniest details of life on a shuttle into his story. Even in space, astronauts answer email; it goes without saying that at least one of the astronauts is a woman; and who knew you needed keys on a space shuttle? (Probably appropriately, the exact role of the mice on the mission is never explored.) Payne has a good time with his illustrations, investing little Meteor with a suitably outsized personality and making his multicultural human shuttle crew look normal as normal can belike Meteor, maybe child readers can become astronauts, too. This little mouse may well inspire some big dreams. (afterword, further reading) (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
