Moon Mission: The Epic 400-year Journey to Apollo 11 by Sigmund Brouwer –OPTIONAL

Moon Mission: The Epic 400-year Journey to Apollo 11 by Sigmund Brouwer, 127 pages. NON-FICTION. Kids Can Press, 2019 $18 Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: G.

BUYING ADVISORY: EL  - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

This book puts the reader into the drivers seat of the Apollo 11 mission, using second person perspective. Each chapter has a small chunk of the astronaut experience in sequential order, a bit of history of the space program and little ‘solve the mystery puzzles’. Filled with lots of illustrations, photographs, and diagrams.

This would be a fun read for an upper elementary student who is interested in space travel, sadly I mostly see interest around this topic from younger readers. It draws out the story of the flight to the point where I think some readers would give up. The solve the mystery puzzles are challenging to the extreme and students would just have to do research to solve them (maybe that was the intent). They were interesting mysteries, but then by the time the solution is presented later on in the book, I had forgotten the original mystery that is went with. The photos that fill the book are excellent and well chosen. I like the author chose to address, point by point, the conspiracy that the whole mission was faked.

Reviewer: Stephanie MLS & Author.