MOONSHOT

A fresh, expanded edition of Floca’s
top-drawer tribute to the first moon landing, which won a Sibert honor in 2010.

New here is an early nod to the “thousands
of people” who worked behind the scenes to make the mission a success (a nod
echoed in the closing recap) and a much-enlarged account of Apollo 11’s
return flight to Earth. Both include new art: For the first, a set of vignettes
clearly depicts women and people of color playing prominent roles (including a
recognizable Katherine Johnson), and for the second, the 2009 original’s two
pages grow to eight, climaxed by a close-up of the command module Columbia’s
furious, fiery re-entry. The narrative, along with having expanded to match,
has been lightly tweaked throughout but remains as stately and dramatic as
ever: “But GO, GO, says Mission Control: / ‘Eagle, Houston. You’re GO
for landing.’ / Far from home and far from help, / still steady, steady the
astronauts fly, / as time and fuel are running out.” Minor changes in other illustrations
and added or clarified details in the text add further life and luster to a
soaring commemoration of our space program’s most spectacular achievement. This
is the rare revised edition that adds enough new material to demand purchase.

Still essential reading, more so
than ever for being broader in scope and more balanced of presentation than the
original. (Informational picture book. 7-12)