Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)
I remember the excitement in the air on July 21, 1969. I remember being allowed to stay up late to watch Neil Armstrong take that first step on the moon. Author/illustrator Brian Floca re-creates that sense of drama for a new generation of kids as the rocket is readied--“3…2…1.” Floca’s free-verse account is both lyrical and accurate as he describes the astronauts “dressed for colder, stranger places” and their moon-based glimpse of our planet, “the good and lonely Earth, glowing in the sky.” His accompanying art shifts masterfully back and forth from the mysterious, star-riddled vantage point of the journeying astronauts to the viewpoint of an ordinary American family gazing at the night sky and watching the drama unfold on TV. 2009, Antheneum/Simon & Schuster, $17.99. Ages 3 to 7.

Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature)
In a text that is easily understood and illustrations that clearly show the preparations and support personnel at Mission Control, the flight of Apollo 11 is underway. The three astronauts have trained hard and are ready for the greatest adventure of their lives. The rocket roars into the sky, and, at speeds that are we are unable to fathom, it reaches one hundred miles high in twelve minutes. The Columbia and Eagle are launched, pilot Michael Collins docks the two craft, and together, they head toward the Moon. The inside of the spaceship looks like a cluttered mess, and things just float in chaos. Eating is a challenge, as is using the toilet. Finally, the astronauts reach their destination, and as they orbit the Moon, Collins stays in Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin head for the Moon. Can they do it? Will they land as planned? The world watched and seemed to hold its collective breath. Armstrong must take command and manually land the Eagle. Then, it is time to suit up and actually put their feet on the surface of the Moon. All too soon, it is time to return to their colleague circling above and head back to Earth. The inside cover contains a more detailed explanation of the actual mission and what conditions were really like, while also noting that Armstrong really meant to say or did say “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” 2009, Richard Jackson Book/Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, $17.99. Ages 5 to 9.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices 2010)
With graceful words and captivating illustrations, Brian Floca makes it clear that behind the seeming ease of those first steps across the moon’s surface was a lot of effort, not to mention an unprecedented sense of anticipation. As he provides information about the technical details and achievements of the Apollo 11 mission, Floca always keeps his focus on the human story. During the step-by-step account of liftoff and stages of rocket separation, Floca shows an astronaut’s sideways glance at the zero moment of countdown, and he provides an intriguing glimpse at the challenges of eating, bathing, and going to the bathroom in space. Finely detailed illustrations and a lyrical narrative combine to overcome the book’s few flaws, such as the gender-stereotyped family shown following the drama of the moon landing on television. CCBC Category: Historical People, Places, and Events. 2009, Atheneum, 40 pages, $17.99. Ages 5-10.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2009 (Vol. 77, No. 6))
A dizzying, masterful command of visual pacing combines with an acute sense of verbal rhythms to provide a glorious account of the Apollo 11 mission, one that stands as the must-buy in this crowded lunar season. Each page turn presents a surprise: A spread with six horizontal panels showing rocket, bystanders and astronauts during countdown yields to a close-up of the thrusters firing at liftoff and then to a perfectly sublime long shot that positions a tiny Saturn V rocket pulling away from the launch pad above a serenely massive Earth, its curve clearly visible in the horizon of the blue Atlantic—"ROAR." Floca's language, in one of his longer texts, is equally gorgeous: "And when the Earth / has rolled beneath / and rolled behind / and let the astronauts go, / the Saturn's last stage opens wide..." Humor lightly applied provides the necessary grounding touch to this larger-than-human endeavor without ever taking away its sense of moment. The front endpapers give detail-loving readers diagrams and a pictorial chronology; the back endpapers contain a brief history of NASA's lunar program. Breathtaking, thrilling and perfect. 2009, Richard Jackson/Atheneum, 48p, $17.99. Category: Informational picture book. Ages 7 to 12. Starred Review. © 2009 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Kristen Albright (Library Media Connection, August 2009)
Blast off with the crew of Apollo 11 in this nonfiction picture book about space travel. Sent into space in 1969, the Apollo 11 was manned by now-famous astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong. From the pre-flight boarding of the craft to the splashdown, readers can learn about what it took to send a rocket into space. The poetic text reads like a story with a clear sequence of events. Students who are interested in space travel will delight in the author’s colorful illustrations. There is an informative article about the first walk on the moon that explains in more detail the Apollo 11 mission. This book is a nice addition to space and space travel collections. Recommended. 2009, Atheneum (Simon & Schuster), 48pp., $17.99 hc.

Dennis W. Cheek (Science Books and Films (Vol. 45, No. 8))
The Apollo missions to the moon captured the imagination of Americans and the entire world. During the period from July 21, 1969, to December 14, 1972, twelve American astronauts ranging in age from 36 to 47 set foot on the surface of the Moon. This book, targeted at preschool through the first or second grade, focuses on the mission of Apollo 11, the first successful attempt by humans to land on the lunar surface. The book is beautifully illustrated with large-size, full-color renderings of the human participants, technologies, and wider physical and social environments within which the first moonwalk occurred. Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., are presented to the reader as daring individuals who volunteered for the ride of their lives aboard the 30-story, 6 million-pound three-stage Saturn V launch vehicle within their space capsule, Columbia. The rapid propulsion of going 100 miles high in just 12 minutes is conveyed to the reader, as are the human dimensions of space travel, including the answer to the question young children always raise: “How did they go to the bathroom?” The importance of Velcro' to weightless conditions is also highlighted. The transmission of the famous message “Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed” and the consequent rejoicing on Earth are well illustrated, as are the phone call with the President of the United States. The inside back cover of the book contains a more detailed account of the mission for the classroom teacher or a teacher in an informal-learning organization. This is a very good book for children’s libraries, as a special present, or for whole-class reading in the classroom, because of its vivid text and large illustrations. (A Richard Jackson Book.) C.I.P. Highly Recommended, Grades PreK-2. 2009, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 48pp., $17.99. Ages 4 to 8.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, July/August 2009 (Vol. 62, No. 11))
This pair of picture books, each featuring a poetic text that fairly begs to be read aloud, will be even better savored by independent readers who will delight in the authors’ carefully crafted storytelling while lingering over the visual renderings of the first manned moon landing. In One Giant Leap, Burleigh offers a bit more emphasis on the personal fears of the astronauts as they take their pioneering leap into space (“July 21. Unease. Uncertainty. . . . Liftoff in one minute. Away from here—maybe”), and he presses the role of Command and Service Module pilot Michael Collins a bit further into the limelight. Wimmer’s accompanying oil paintings are more traditionally dramatic, with the near-photorealistic portrayals of the astronauts making activity inside the cramped module feel personal and immediate. From his line-and-watercolor cartoon-style illustrations, Floca’s take on the mission in Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 seems at first to be considerably less nerve-wracking, but he actually transfers much of the dramatic focus to the millions of Earthbound viewers who gnawed their nails in anxiety for the crew’s safety and success (“Armstrong, calling from the Moon, calm as a man who has just parked a car. ‘Houston,’ he says. ‘Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.’ Armstrong is calm—but on Earth they cheer!”). If Floca’s opus wins by a nose, it is because of his inclusion of technically detailed endpapers of the spacecraft and more copious supplementary notes. However, the complementary points of view of these two titles offer readers a stirring, you-are-there recreation of the mission that will give elementary schoolers insight into why the grandparents rattle on about “that day” in July of ’69 Review Code: R* -- Recommended. A book of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2009, Jackson/Atheneum, 42p., $17.99. Grades 2-5.