Blasting Off to Space Academy, Vol. 5

What's the best part of being an astronaut? Is it the excitement of leaving the Earth behind at the mind-boggling speed of 25,000 mph? Is it the chance to float around a shuttle in zero gravity? Or make new scientific discoveries? Or go out on a space walk?

Few of us get to answer these questions for ourselves by rocketing into space. But a group of kids took the first step by going to U.S. Space Academy. For close to a week, they tried on flight suits and the lives of training astronauts. They used NASA simulators and learned how to walk on the Moon and how to work without gravity. They walked, talked, read, lived space travel.

Then, they blasted off on a mission of their own....

Susan E. Goodman and Michael J. Doolittle bring the adventures of science and space travel alive in the fifth book of the Ultimate Field Trip series. Vivid storytelling and photos help readers don mental space suits and go along for the ride.

What's the best part of being an astronaut? Is it the excitement of leaving the Earth behind at the mind-boggling speed of 25,000 mph? Is it the chance to float around a shuttle in zero gravity? Or make new scientific discoveries? Or go out on a space walk?

Few of us get to answer these questions for ourselves by rocketing into space. But a group of kids took the first step by going to U.S. Space Academy. For close to a week, they tried on flight suits and the lives of training astronauts. They used NASA simulators and learned how to walk on the Moon and how to work without gravity. They walked, talked, read, lived space travel.

Then, they blasted off on a mission of their own....

Susan E. Goodman and Michael J. Doolittle bring the adventures of science and space travel alive in the fifth book of the Ultimate Field Trip series. Vivid storytelling and photos help readers don mental space suits and go along for the ride.

Children's Literature

A group of middle schoolers--ecotourists from western Michigan--are followed on a week-long trip to the rainforests of Peru. There they explore bio-diversity, interact with tribesmen and school children, trade with the Yaguas, and visit the marketplace where they buy a baby sloth in hopes of returning it to the wild. But then they discover that without its mother it can't survive, and people might continue to try to sell cute baby animals to tourists. "Be careful of the message you send with your dollars," they hear--a worthwhile and unusual message in books for this age. Responsible tourism, rainforest diversity, the tacit message of adventure and taking risks, plus winning photography make this appealing to upper elementary grades. The pictures and text are enlivened with quotes from the children and their journals. A useful read-aloud for elementary children studying the rainforest and a good introduction to the "Ultimate Field Trip" series. 1999 (orig.

To research her various books and magazine articles, Susan E. Goodman has snowshoed through mountain forests, tried using a blowgun in the Amazon, and scared a moose at rest — and herself in the bargain. Years ago, she went to U.S. Space Camp as a participant and loved the 1/6 Gravity Chair. Ms. Goodman lives with her family in Boston, Massachusetts.