Space Race

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Calculated to punch up interest in the past and future of space exploration, these series entries combine big, bright, color photos or art with cogent, if drastically abbreviated, text arranged in easily digestible blocks. Mason devotes half of his account to the Apollo Program, leaving so little room for earlier achievements that the tally of Soviet firsts in space squeezes out any mention of John Glenn's first flight (though a later photo shows the senator suiting up for his second). Space is the weakest of the trio, being a superficial glance at the Big Bang and various distant phenomena in the observed universe, illustrated with an insufficiently differentiated mix of actual astronomical photos and stills from SF films, plus some confusing captions and visual filler. The massive explosions and spectacular failures in Dramas, on the other hand, will widen the eyes of even hardened disaster fans. Beneath chapter heads like "Countdown to Danger" and "Big Booms," Woodford presents natural events such as Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's fiery contretemps with Jupiter, and an array of risky or calamitous space-program incidents, from the Challenger's destruction to the stupid mistake that scuttled the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter mission. All three volumes end with suggestions for follow-up activities and several Web sites worth visiting; two, at least, will give younger readers a greater appreciation for the costs, and rewards, of exploring the high frontier.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.