169. Spacebusters: The Race to the Moon

Spacebusters: The Race to the Moon by Philip Wilkinson. (Canada) - (US)
DK Readers

Pages: 48
Ages: 8+
Finished: Jul. 28, 2011
First Published: 1998 (new edition Jan. 2012)
Publisher: DK Publishing Inc.
Genre: easy reader, astronomy, space race
Rating: 4/5


First sentence:

Three, two, one - blastoff!

Acquired:  Borrowed a copy through Inter Library Loan.

Reason for Reading: Read aloud to ds as part of our history curriculum.

This is the first time I've read a non-fiction book about space/astronauts to ds.  He's looked at space books before and shown no over enthusiasm towards the topic.  But he was absolutely riveted with this book!  He listened intently to every word I read.  I think he's really going to enjoy the rest of our little space unit.  This book focuses only on the US side of the space race thus including those words in the title is a misnomer as the book is only about the US space program.  It starts with the launching of Apollo 11 and tells the story of the first landing on the moon in a brief but detailed account for this reading level.  It also talks about the men involved and where they are now.  Written in an engaging narrative, with DK's always brilliant photography; this is an entertaining introduction to the moon landing.  A new edition is being published at the beginning of 2012 so you might want to wait for that edition to see if there is any update to the material.  This current edition I read (1998) gives a summary page which goes up to the Hubble Telescope, space stations and questions whether astronauts on Mars may be next.