Moon Landing by Nick Arnold, Scholastic, 拢2.99, ISBN
0439999529
IT鈥橲 A sobering thought: in 2002, it will be 30 years since a human being
last set foot on the Moon. An entire generation knows about Moon landings only
as archival events. For their children, humans journeying to another world must
seem the stuff of myths.
Although aimed at pre-teens, Nick Arnold鈥檚 Moon Landing may be just
what鈥檚 needed to bring those heady days to life for both these post-Apollo
generations. In a crisp 64 pages, Arnold delivers the whole shebang: the cold
war underpinnings of the space race, the rickety technology that (barely) got
the job done, and the crazy bravery of Neil, Buzz and Mike.
Advertisement
Arnold tells the story in a conversational style that is neither
condescending nor boring. He spares few gross details. Describing the moment
when divers opened the Apollo 11 capsule after splashdown, he says they nearly
passed out from the smell. Why? 鈥淭hink about it. For over a week three men had
been cooped up in a small space without washing. They had been farting, sweating
and eating. And then there were the bags of poo . . .鈥�
Arnold is also blunt about how quickly funding for space exploration dried up
once the Moon landing had been achieved, He doesn鈥檛 go into great detail, but
Moon Landing may well inspire a new wave of young readers to ask such
questions.