Overview
When 14-year-old Elliot Schroeder is selected by NASA to be the first Junior Astronaut, he has no way of knowing the profound effect it will have on Vincent Ole Tome, a Maasai herder who is also 14 years old. An unexpected event puts the boys in contact via short-wave radio, and an African drought and an in-space emergency bring about a climactic fact-to-face meeting.A high-flying, action-packed adventure from the author of Rescue Josh McGuire. When 14-year-old Elliott Schroeder is selected by NASA to become the first Junior Astronaut, he has no way of knowing the profound effect it will have on his life and the life of Vincent Ole Tome, a young Masai herder. Adventure fans will find plenty of perilous exploits and intriguing plot twists in this engrossing, hard-to-put-down novel.
Synopsis
When 14-year-old Elliot Schroeder is selected by NASA to be the first Junior Astronaut, he has no way of knowing the profound effect it will have on Vincent Ole Tome, a Maasai herder who is also 14 years old. An unexpected event puts the boys in contact via short-wave radio, and an African drought and an in-space emergency bring about a climactic fact-to-face meeting.
VOYA
While tending to the cattle on his father's ranch in Big Timber, Montana, fourteen-year-old Elliot Schroeder dreams of flying solo in his own airplane. He has taken flying lessons for two years and is eagerly looking forward to the day he will be in control of an airplane. Looking at the stars from his rooftop, he is filled with questions about flying and the universe. Far off in Kenya, another fourteen-year-old boy, Vincent Ole Tome, gazes at the sky with questions of his own and fights off daydreams while caring for his father's cattle. Vincent wants to go to the "wood school" to learn about the world outside of his Masai village, but his father is against the idea. The lives of both boys change dramatically when Elliot is chosen as NASA's first junior astronaut. While Elliot is in orbit the boys begin an uneasy friendship, communicating via short-wave radio. Their correspondence raises questions about people, their differences and similarities. Mikaelson provides a fascinating scenario of Elliot's nine months' training to become a payload specialist (one-mission astronaut). Explanations of every aspect of the instruction and preparation are given in vivid and exciting detail. Elliot's dreams are almost shattered when he allows his jealousy over Mandy Harris, the alternate junior astronaut, to go unchecked. Students who have an interest in the space program and who have seen Apollo 13 will find this book very rewarding. VOYA Codes: 3Q 2P M J (Readable without serious defects, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8 and Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).