Ham the Astrochimp

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Chimpanzees are fairly close in relation to humans and have enough intelligence that they can be trained to conduct some simple tasks. Before a man was launched into space, a chimp named Ham was selected to be the "guinea pig." There were just too many unknowns to risk sending a person. Ham performed quite well and his actions were monitored by the NASA scientists. The only real mishap in Ham's flight was that he was going faster and in space longer than predicted, so when he landed in the ocean, he was not at the expected splashdown location and water started leaking into the capsule. Would poor Ham drown after accomplishing his mission? Fortunately, he was safe and the information gathered from his mission "proved that intelligent creatures could go into the great unknown of outer space and return safely." What was Ham's fate? At first it was not a really happy one, but eventually he did end up in a happy home and given the honor he deserved. The paintings in this oversized book fill the better part of each spread and tell the story, as does the text. Nearly every page contains a sepia toned sidebar with an illustration and even more detailed information. The book can be used on two levels—an informative nonfiction picture book for younger readers using only the text printed on the illustrations, or a more in depth look at the early work in the space program when the sidebars are included. I vaguely remember Ham and was pleased to see that Hilliard has once again brought his story to the attention of young readers.

Kirkus Reviews

Paying tribute to the "first truly intelligent being" in space, Hilliard traces the flight and later life of the chimpanzee sent aloft in a Mercury capsule in 1961. Expanding on his main narrative with longer comments in running sidebars, the author emphasizes Ham's intelligence and good nature throughout, and adds an element of drama to the tale, as Ham's capsule nearly sank before it could be hauled out of the ocean. The stodgy but accurately detailed paintings alternate between views of the capsule and close-up shots of the smiling chimp. As a way of sparking interest in the space race's early days, this makes a more triumphant episode to highlight than the U.S.'s early failures chronicled in Heather Feldman's Sputnik, the First Satellite (2003) or the tragic events of Nick Abadzis's graphic treatment of the Soviet mission, Laika (September 2007). (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)