Moonwalkers: a fun family space adventure
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Ivy loves the moon. She likes to tell me about how it only looks like some of it is missing, that it controls the ocean and that it moves around the earth. ‘Not like the sun, the sun just sits there and does nothing. The sun is boring’. The kids get so excited when they are up late enough to see it.
At the moment they are fascinated with the book Moonwalkers by Matthew Greenwood and Terry Denton. It’s quite a long book but the story and illustrations keep them interested time after time.
Moonwalkers is the story of the Apollo 11 moon landing told by a small boy (Billy) who lives near ‘The Dish’ in Parkes NSW. The Dish is a Radio Telescope that was used to track space missions including the Apollo 11. Billy is mesmerised by space and the mission to the moon.
Billy and his younger sister and brother eagerly follow the Apollo 11 mission, incorporating it into every aspect of life:
‘For three days, while Apollo 11 journeyed to the Moon, Billy taught Mickey and Buzz how to be astronauts.
He wrapped them in shiny foil spacesuits and painted their helmets silver and gold.
They collected ‘moon rocks’ from the garden… and Buzz floated in the bath to practise lunar gravity.
They cuddled up in the Command Module and ate chocolate pudding and astronaut ice-cream.’
Moonwalkers also has some really beautiful messages like the joy of shared achievement and that amazing things are accomplished by small things working together. I love the relationship of cooperation and inclusion that the siblings have.
It’s a fun and informative book full of equal parts imagination and fact. It provides information about the Apollo 11 mission in a way that young kids can relate to and opens up a million other questions that will be great fun to investigate.
Moonwalkers is a wonderful book for any space enthusiast (and will create many more) and would make a wonderful gift.
Moonwalkers
by Mark Greenwood Illustrated by Terry Denton – Puffin Books, 2019
ages 3 to 10 years / S.T.E.M + Imagination
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