Top Pick!



Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, by Brian Floca; Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 2009; $17.99; www.simonandschuster.com.  



Captivating drawings and a simple, beautifully written text dramatize the 1969 moonwalk in terms just right for young readers. Kids marvel at the amazing journey of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin as they soar to the moon and back “to warmth, to light, to home at last.” The book manages to convey the stark cold and quiet of the moon, the courage and skill of these three men, and the way many scientists work as a team to make the impossible happen. At the same time, it includes details kids would really want to know, such as what astronauts eat, why Velcro is essential on a spaceship, and why “after a week this small home will not smell so good.”