Countdown 2979 days to the moon

Suzanne Slade

Book - 2018

Told in free verse, the story of the American effort to land the first man on the moon comes to life. During the two thousand nine hundred and seventy-nine days following his speech, eighteen astronauts climbed into spaceships; three of them died before even leaving the ground. Eight rockets soared into space. And four hundred thousand people-- engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists-- joined Project Apollo in hopes of making the dream a reality.

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Subjects
Genres
Historical poetry
Free verse
Instructional and educational works
Published
Atlanta, Georgia : Peachtree Publishers [2018]
Language
English
Main Author
Suzanne Slade (author)
Other Authors
Thomas Gonzalez, 1959- (illustrator)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
144 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm
Audience
Ages 8-12.
Grades 4 to 6.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9781682630136
  • A daring dream
  • The first mission, Apollo 1
  • The mission continues
  • To the sky, Apollo 4-6
  • Risking it all, Apollo 7
  • Aiming for the moon, Apollo 8
  • Spider in space, Apollo 9
  • Dress rehearsal, Apollo 10
  • Achieving the dream, Apollo 11.
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Using narrative free verse, Slade recounts the U.S. race to the moon, focusing on the 2,979 days between President Kennedy's put-a-man-on-the-moon speech (May 25, 1961) and the successful lunar landing (July 20, 1969). She details Apollo 1's explosion, which caused the deaths of three astronauts; Apollos 2-3, which were grounded to retool for safety; Apollos 4-6, which tested the lunar module; Apollos 7-10, which returned astronauts to space and orbited the moon; and Apollo 11, which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface. Slade's text is succinct yet full of intimate, insider details (for example, Armstrong and Aldrin left a patch commemorating the Apollo I astronauts on the moon), and the verse format results in appealing white space on most spreads. Gonzalez's mixed-media illustrations employ a realistic style that focuses on objects of significance: astronauts in full gear; a detaching, spent rocket engine; a fragile lunar module settling onto the Sea of Tranquility. Darker hues predominate, accented with bright yellows, reds, and oranges depicting rocket launches. Each chapter concludes with a spread summarizing the various missions and their astronauts, illustrated with captioned archival photos. Further information about the Apollo program, author and illustrator notes, and a bibliography are also appended. Elegant and informative, this is sure to attract casual browsers and true space nerds alike.--Kay Weisman Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

"At first/ it's only a dream-/ an ambitious, outrageous idea." This account of NASA's first Apollo missions marries a captivating free-verse narrative with lifelike illustrations as it takes readers through the 2,979 days from President Kennedy's moonwalk announcement to Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind." Gonzalez (Seven and a Half Tons of Steel) extends the realistic precision and lyrical imagery offered in words by Slade (Astronaut Annie) with vivid mixed-media illustrations that stun with photographic realism and varied perspectives, from a close-up of an astronaut's gloved hand to expansive, breathtaking scenes of Earth from afar. A spread of statistical recaps of each mission and its astronauts further complement the lyrical lines, along with several full-color NASA archival photographs. Addendums offer an Apollo 11 postscript and a glimpse into the jobs required for the Apollo program. (Women and people of color, as per history, aren't abundant in this account of U.S. astronauts.) Launched in advance of next year's 50th anniversary of the first moon walk, this well-researched title offers a stirring introduction to one of humankind's most impressive undertakings. Ages 10-14. Author's agent: Karen Grencik, Red Fox Literary. (Sept.) ? © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 5 Up-This stunning book accurately details the U.S. space race to the moon and the very real dangers and pitfalls that accompanied it. Slade's carefully crafted, often alliterative text, written in free verse, is both succinct and readable, drawing this large topic down to the most necessary and interesting facts with enough detail to excite young teens as well as adults who may have lived through the missions. Gonzalez states in a note that his goal was "to create the illusion of being there," and indeed he has, from the science fiction-looking cover, which shows the moon's glowing reflection on an astronaut's helmet, to the lifelike portraits of the astronauts in pastels, watercolor, colored pencil, and airbrush. The text emphasizes the short amount of time it took for the program to succeed, from the first ill-fated mission in January, 1967, to Apollo 11 in July, 1969, that carried two men to the moon. VERDICT Truly out of this world. A must-buy for most poetry collections.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH © Copyright 2018. 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 Horn Book Review

This unique nonfiction picture book tells the story of the Apollo missions in poignant verse, accompanied by pastel, colored-pencil, and airbrush illustrations. Beginning with President Kennedy's 1961 challenge to land on the moon and ending with the success of Apollo 11 in 1969, the result is immersive and both factually and emotionally powerful. Inserts with photographs and facts about the missions appear throughout; additional contextual information is appended. Bib. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A free-verse ode to the Apollo program, still the high-water mark of this country's space program.Like Catherine Thimmesh's Team Moon (2006), this album is offered in tribute to the massive, collective eight-year effort to send explorers to our closest celestial neighbor and then bring them back. Slade intersperses resumes for the members of each Apollo crew up to Apollo 11 with extended poetic flights that include significant technical details along with dramatic passages: "Explosive fire. Deafening noise. / The rocket blasts off / above an inferno of white-hot flames." A prose coda offers nods to the major corporations that developed and built the Saturn V rocket and the spacecraft it carried, then an account of the Apollo 11 astronauts' triumphant reception back on Earth. Gonzalez's big, kaleidoscopic montages and page-filling close-ups of tense faces likewise highlight the drama and are so realistic as to be sometimes difficult to distinguish from the photos with which they are mixed. One glimpse of brown hands using a slide rule and an African-American woman (unidentified but probably Katherine Johnson) in another montage are the only indications here that the space program wasn't an all-white enterprise. Still, it makes a grandif, so many years later, nostalgictale about a magnificent effort.A handsomely packaged look back at an epochal achievement. (author's note, illustrator's note, bibliography, sources, index) (Nonfiction/poetry. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.