Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon

by Suzanne Slade, Thomas Gonzalez (Illustrator)

Overview

The captivating true story of NASA's effort to land the first man on the Moon is told through powerful free verse and stunning illustrations.

An inspiring testament to American grit, teamwork, and ingenuity, Countdown presents exhilarating, informative, and accessible free verse by award-winning author Suzanne Slade paired with historic photographs and detailed illustrations by New York Times best-selling illustrator Thomas Gonzalez.
Together, they capture the gripping historic story of NASA's twentieth century efforts to conquer a new space frontier.

Through triumph and tragedy, success and failure, an entire nation is glued to the high-stakes, 2,979-day mission as eighteen astronauts climb into spacecraft; three men die before even leaving the ground; eight rockets soar into space; and four hundred thousand people―engineers, technicians, scientists, mathematicians, and machinists―join Project Apollo in pursuit of making a dream a reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682634004
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	06/14/2022
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	10.02(w) x 10.98(h) x 0.43(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Suzanne Slade, a Sibert Honor-winning author, has written over one hundred and fifty children's books. An engineer by degree, she enjoys writing on STEM topics, as well as on inspiring figures in history. A popular speaker, she visits dozens of schools every year and has been invited to speak at numerous conferences such as ALA, IRA, ISLMA, NSTA, as well as the National Book Festival. Suzanne's books are enjoyed by readers around the world and also in space! Her picture book Astronaut Annie was read aboard the International Space Station for Story Time from Space. She lives in Illinois.

Thomas Gonzalez is an illustrator, designer, and portrait artist. A native of Cuba, he came to the United States when he was ten years old. He studied at the Atlanta School of Art (now called Savannah of Art and Design). After working at the Coca-Cola Company for more than twenty years, Tom held several creative positions with other global brands. He has illustrated many picture books, including the New York Times best-seller 14 Cows for America. He lives in Georgia.

Editorial Reviews

★ "Stunning. . . Slade's carefully crafted, often alliterative text, written in free verse, is both succinct and readable, drawing this large topic down to the most necessary and interesting facts with enough detail to excite young teens as well as adults who may have lived through the missions.. . . Truly out of this world. A must-buy for most poetry collections." —School Library Journal, Starred Review

"[A] book that will captivate and entertain young readers while educating them about an amazing decade of U.S. space exploration. . . In the 21st century, space travel goals aim much further away than the moon, but Countdown drives home how truly incredible the Apollo missions are in the history of mankind." —Shelf Awareness

★ "Captivating free-verse narrative. . . vivid mixed-media illustrations that stun with photographic realism and varied perspectives. . . this well-researched title offers a stirring introduction to one of humankind's most impressive undertakings." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"A grand—if, so many years later, nostalgic—tale about a magnificent effort. A handsomely packaged look back at an epochal achievement."—Kirkus Reviews

★ "Elegant and informative, this is sure to attract casual browsers and true space nerds alike."—Booklist, Starred Review

From the Publisher

★ 07/30/2018
“At first/ it’s only a dream—/ an ambitious, outrageous idea.” This account of NASA’s first Apollo missions marries a captivating free-verse narrative with lifelike illustrations as it takes readers through the 2,979 days from President Kennedy’s moonwalk announcement to Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind.” Gonzalez (Seven and a Half Tons of Steel) extends the realistic precision and lyrical imagery offered in words by Slade (Astronaut Annie) with vivid mixed-media illustrations that stun with photographic realism and varied perspectives, from a close-up of an astronaut’s gloved hand to expansive, breathtaking scenes of Earth from afar. A spread of statistical recaps of each mission and its astronauts further complement the lyrical lines, along with several full-color NASA archival photographs. Addendums offer an Apollo 11 postscript and a glimpse into the jobs required for the Apollo program. (Women and people of color, as per history, aren’t abundant in this account of U.S. astronauts.) Launched in advance of next year’s 50th anniversary of the first moon walk, this well-researched title offers a stirring introduction to one of humankind’s most impressive undertakings. Ages 10–14. Author’s agent: Karen Grencik, Red Fox Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2018
Gr 5 Up—This stunning book accurately details the U.S. space race to the moon and the very real dangers and pitfalls that accompanied it. Slade's carefully crafted, often alliterative text, written in free verse, is both succinct and readable, drawing this large topic down to the most necessary and interesting facts with enough detail to excite young teens as well as adults who may have lived through the missions. Gonzalez states in a note that his goal was "to create the illusion of being there," and indeed he has, from the science fiction–looking cover, which shows the moon's glowing reflection on an astronaut's helmet, to the lifelike portraits of the astronauts in pastels, watercolor, colored pencil, and airbrush. The text emphasizes the short amount of time it took for the program to succeed, from the first ill-fated mission in January, 1967, to Apollo 11 in July, 1969, that carried two men to the moon. VERDICT Truly out of this world. A must-buy for most poetry collections.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

School Library Journal

2018-06-11
A free-verse ode to the Apollo program, still the high-water mark of this country's space program.Like Catherine Thimmesh's Team Moon (2006), this album is offered in tribute to the massive, collective eight-year effort to send explorers to our closest celestial neighbor and then bring them back. Slade intersperses resumes for the members of each Apollo crew up to Apollo 11 with extended poetic flights that include significant technical details along with dramatic passages: "Explosive fire. Deafening noise. / The rocket blasts off / above an inferno of white-hot flames." A prose coda offers nods to the major corporations that developed and built the Saturn V rocket and the spacecraft it carried, then an account of the Apollo 11 astronauts' triumphant reception back on Earth. Gonzalez's big, kaleidoscopic montages and page-filling close-ups of tense faces likewise highlight the drama and are so realistic as to be sometimes difficult to distinguish from the photos with which they are mixed. One glimpse of brown hands using a slide rule and an African-American woman (unidentified but probably Katherine Johnson) in another montage are the only indications here that the space program wasn't an all-white enterprise. Still, it makes a grand—if, so many years later, nostalgic—tale about a magnificent effort.A handsomely packaged look back at an epochal achievement. (author's note, illustrator's note, bibliography, sources, index) (Nonfiction/poetry. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews