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A
50th-anniversary commemoration of the epochal Apollo 11 mission.
Modeling
her account on “The House That Jack Built” (an unspoken, appropriate nod to
President John F. Kennedy’s foundational role in the enterprise), Greene takes
Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins from liftoff to post-splashdown ticker-tape
parade. Side notes on some spreads and two pages of further facts with
photographs at the end, all in smaller type, fill in select details about the
mission and its historical context. The rhymed lines are fully cumulated only
once, so there is some repetition but never enough to grow monotonous: “This is
the Moon, a mysterious place, / a desolate land in the darkness of space, / far
from Earth with oceans blue.” Also, the presentation of the text in just three
or fewer lines per spread stretches out the narrative and gives Brundage
latitude for both formal and informal group portraits of Apollo 11’s all-white
crew, multiple glimpses of our planet and the moon at various heights, and,
near the end, atmospheric (so to speak) views of the abandoned lander and boot
prints in the lunar dust.
It’s
not the most dramatic version, but it’s a visually effective and serviceable
addition to the rapidly growing shelf of tributes to our space program’s high-water
mark. (Informational picture book. 6-8)
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