Apollo 11: First Moon Landing

Children's Literature - Joyce Rice

From the first challenge by President Kennedy in the 1960s, Americans have been excited about space and all that we do not know. Images of spacemen and spaceships invade our minds as we try to separate fiction from reality. In this series, "Countdown to Space," treatment is given to six different events in our space adventure. The story of the first moon landing is told here using actual dialogue between the astronauts and Mission Control. The text makes interesting reading for the upper elementary student. The series offers excellent coverage of an important time in American History, and it is highly recommended for elementary media center collections and science classrooms.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6Clearly and succinctly, Cole recounts some of the highlights of America's manned space-flight program. All the books are well written (with footnotes) and illustrated with photographs (most in color). Apollo 11 is comparable to R. Conrad Stein's Apollo 11 (Childrens, 1992), without all the exclamation points. Apollo 13 is superior to David Baker's Danger on Apollo 13 (Rourke, 1988) and Gail Herman's Apollo 13 (Putnam, 1995). The flights of both Apollo 11 and 13 are covered in titles chronicling the entire Apollo program, such as Gregory Kennedy's Apollo to the Moon (Chelsea, 1992) and Gregory Vogt's Apollo and the Moon Landing (Millbrook, 1991), but these books are for a slightly older audience. The shuttle program is covered by George Fichter in The Space Shuttle (Watts, 1981; o.p.), which includes the first flight of Columbia, but in less detail than Cole provides. Gregory Vogt also covers the entire shuttle program in The Space Shuttle (Millbrook, 1991), but for a slightly older audience. Cole's books will be useful for report writers as well as appealing to browsers. Good choices for anyone looking for fresh material on space flights.Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA