Countdown
by Suzanne Slade
Peachtree Publishers (September 1, 2018)
Juvenile Nonfiction / Technology / Aeronautics, Astronautics & Space Science
Audience: Ages10-14
Indiebound | WorldCat
Description from GoodReads: Free verse and illustrations tell the true story of the American effort to land the first man on the Moon.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would try to land a man on the Moon within ten years. During the two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-nine days that followed his speech, eighteen astronauts climbed into spaceships; three of them died before even leaving the ground. Eight rockets soared into space. And four hundred thousand people--engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists--joined Project Apollo in hopes of making the dream a reality.
Thank you to the Peachtree marketing team for sharing the link to the official book trailer.
Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon comes out on September 1, 2018. I wanted readers to have a chance to get a glimpse of this beautiful book.
When the advanced copy arrived, I wasn't sure what to expected. The size is a bit larger than average (10" x 11") and despite the illustrated cover, I was still expecting to see photographs inside.
When I did open it up, I was amazed at the realistic paintings done by Thomas Gonzalez. Some of the illustrations required a second look before I realized they were not photographs. I know that children's books are typically not referred to as "coffee table" books, but this one is so beautiful that even if you don't have children, you may want to leave it out for guests to look at.
Slade also used a free verse style to convey the narrative of the journey from Kennedy's speech to our landing on the moon. The photographs of the various astronauts and their stories from Apollo 1 to Apollo II add to the power of this book. At the end of the book, Slade includes additional resources about the Team Apollo and Apollo 11. I would also encourage readers to not skip the author and illustrator notes at the end.
Countdown is out on September 1st consider pre-ordering it from your local indie bookstore or requesting that your library order it.
About the author & illustrator:
A mechanical engineer by degree, Suzanne Slade is the award-winning author of more than one hundred books. Before beginning her writing career, Suzanne worked in the Mechanical/Propulsion Department at McDonnell Douglas Space Systems in Huntington Beach, CA on Delta rockets, Titan rockets, and the Delta-Star spacecraft. She also designed pneumatic consoles for the Delta rocket's first and second stage checkout. While at MDSS, Suzanne worked with engineers who helped create the third stage of the Saturn V rocket which launched the Apollo moon missions. As part of her research for this book, Suzanne interviewed one of the six remaining astronauts who has walked on the moon, Alan Bean, and corresponded with Walter Cunningham, Apollo 7 astronaut.
Thomas Gonzalez was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to the United States as a child. An artist and painter, he directed campaigns for clients such as Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, NASCAR, the NFL, and McDonald's, in addition to illustrating children's books. He lives in Georgia.