Eight Days Gone

by Linda McReynolds, Ryan O'Rourke (Illustrator)

Overview

Snappy verse and retro art brings readers along for Apollo 11's historic, eight-day mission to the moon in 1969. Young readers will learn the basics about the gear, equipment, and spaceship used by the astronauts, as well as the history of NASA's moon mission. O’ Rourke’s vibrant and retro illustrations paired with McReynolds’ short verse creates a perfect read aloud for preschool and kindergarteners eager to learn about Buzz Aldrin’s trip to the moon. Back matter includes a bibliography and author’s note with additional information about the mission and the crew’s return home after the historic first lunar landing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570910241
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Pages:	28
Sales rank:	481,624
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Linda McReynolds has published many poems in children's magazines. EIGHT DAYS GONE is her first children's book. She lives in Montgomery, Illinois.

Read an Excerpt

Armstrong makes his one small step. 
Giant leap from years of prep.

Editorial Reviews

McReynolds, in her children’s book debut, offers a compact and rhythmic look at the first lunar landing 43 years out: “Launchpad countdown./ Smoke and flame./ Rumbling. Blasting./ Seizing fame.” The same four-line rhyme scheme continues throughout, from liftoff and moonwalk to splashdown and celebratory parade. The brisk recounting sometimes requires prior knowledge (or at least a parental conversation or two) to fully appreciate its pared-down nature; e.g., most younger readers won’t know that the landing was made on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility, which the author alludes to with the line, “Desolation./ Silent. Dark./ Tranquil sea./ Barren. Stark.” (McReynolds provides additional details about the moon landing in an author’s note, and a bibliography suggests print and online resources for children.) Rendered in oil, O’Rourke’s (One Big Rain) flat, clean-lined cartoons have a speckled, airbrushed quality and are reminiscent of some of the Golden Book illustrations of the Apollo 11 mission’s era. A spread of a half-Earth hanging in black space as a single astronaut on the moon gazes toward it is awe-inspiring. The book’s small trim size echoes the condensed, yet evocative account found within. Ages 5–8. (July)

Publishers Weekly

The momentous Apollo 11 mission unfolds in pictures and rhyming verse. Eighteen two-page spreads illustrate the story, and McReynolds tells it in tight four-line verses using identical rhyme schemes, beginning with "Hundreds gather. / Hot July. / Spaceship ready-- / set to fly." The rocket blasts into space, begins its orbit, and, after a uniform check, the lunar module disconnects and lands safely on the moon. The control room watches intently. Michael Collins stays with Columbia, "Waits, observing, / tracking trip." Neil Armstrong is the first to walk on the moon ("Armstrong makes his / one small step. / Giant leap from / years of prep"), and Buzz Aldrin? Well ... "Edwin Aldrin / hops around. / Boot prints left on / ashen ground." O'Rourke's richly detailed illustrations are done in oils, with black, white and many shades of gray predominating. They often resemble photographs, with the exception of the people, who look jarringly like Playskool figures. The story has often been written for children before, but never as comprehensively yet concisely for the very young. The rhyme scheme and flat perspectives, if not palette, recall Dan Yaccarino's splendid Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon (1997). An author's note and bibliography extend the experience, though the books listed notably omit the many fine titles published recently on the subject. Still, nifty. (Informational picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews