kirkusreviews.com
Working the fields of California’s
Central Valley by day and staring up at the stars by night, young José M.
Hernández had an impossible dream: to become an astronaut.
Even though the U.S.–born migrant
farmworker didn’t speak English until he was 12, José swore he would realize
that dream. With his Mexican parents’ support, he followed his father’s “recipe”
for success: “Identify my goal, determine how long it would take me to achieve
it and create a plan to reach it.” His mother added that he should strive for
excellence in school, and José contributed his own special ingredient: “never
ever give up!” After earning degrees in electrical engineering, he applied to
NASA and was rejected—11 times. In order to better his chances of entering
the program, he became a pilot, was certified as a scuba diver, and learned
Russian. NASA finally accepted his 12th application, and in 2009 he
blasted into space. Hernández’s descriptive narrative flows effortlessly in both
English and Baeza Ventura’s Spanish translation and is easily accessible. Petruccio’s
colorful and detailed paintings bring this amazing adventure to life, hazy
backgrounds giving the scenes a pleasing dreamlike quality. Hernández closes
his account with a heartfelt exhortation to readers to pursue their own dreams,
asking them “Which stars do you want to touch?”
This outstanding bilingual
autobiography encapsulates the life-changing power of having a goal and the
will to achieve it. (Bilingual picture book/biography. 7-12)
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