This fall, we will publish an annual list of the best children's and young people's books published in 2021 on the subject of flight and space exploration. This holiday season delights young readers with stories of the young Edwin Hubble, Neil Armstrong's moon rocks and incredible pop-up books. Our selection includes books for all ages, from people just learning to read to teenagers.
Written by Neil Armstrong; illustrated by Graham Baker-Smith. Crown; $17.99; 48 pages. In 2006, NASA appointed Neil Armstrong as an ambassador explorer and showed him a rock fragment he brought back to Earth from the moon in 1969. For billions of years, Bok must have witnessed something with his own eyes. This fascinating book is adapted from that lecture and combines Baker Smith's rich illustrations with stories that will surely appeal to readers. The story begins with the celestial fender that produced the moon, and then Bok-a piece of basalt that fell off a larger rock-was hit by an asteroid, which made him "it took about 5 billion years to get rid of Dilemma". "As he cycled between sleeping and gazing at the earth, Bock endured the formation of the earth’s continents, the roaming of dinosaurs, and the birth of Neil Armstrong. When Armstrong threw him into a box, he was pushed from his nap. Squeezed into a box, "there are some acquaintances he knew only a little bit", and returned to Earth with the crew of Apollo 11. The appendix includes more information about the moon, the Earth, and Armstrong. 4 to 8 years old.
Written and illustrated by Jon Klassen. Candle wick; $18.99; 96 pages. A stubborn tortoise wearing a bowler hat stood under the gloomy sky next to a hopeful pink flower. I like to stand in this place. This is my favorite place to stand. He said, I never want to stand anywhere else. But things are about to become dangerous: a meteor is flying towards his exact location. Will the tortoise be crushed to pieces, or will he follow the advice of his (also wearing a bowler hat) armadillo-mole hybrid friend, he feels bad, and rushes over? Five wonderful dark laughter chapters from Caldecott Medalist Klassen. 4 to 8 years old.
Written by Ashley Mireles; drawn by Volha Kaliaha. Family book; $8.99; 20 pages. The youngest readers can fly into space with this sturdy blackboard to learn their ABC. When they enter the universe, few readers understand that A represents an astronaut / B represents a black hole / C represents a constellation... until Z represents the zenith. Simple illustrations featuring the smiling faces of anthropomorphic planets introduce new readers to outer space. 0 to 4 years old.
Written by Lori Haskins Houran; illustrated by Edward Miller. Copycat door press; $10.99; 32 pages. Space alien Beep has lost his way. He and his Dalmatian puppy are wandering in the solar system looking for their home. Is it the largest planet? hottest? Does it have a ring? Or rotate sideways? The youngest reader can follow Beep to search for his "small, red and beautiful" planets, while older readers can learn about the planetary facts presented on every page of this exquisite blackboard. 2 to 6 years old.
Co-authored by Scott Kelly and Emily Easton; illustrated by Izzy Burton. Crown; $17.99; 40 pages. Patricia Kelly would gently urge them to sleep in order to appease her noisy twin boys. She said: "Close your eyes and dare to dream. You can go anywhere. You can do anything." Future Space Shuttle Astronauts Kurt Kelly took her words to heart. His motto "If we dream, we can do it" is the theme of this story, highlighting many places where Kelly slept and dreamed of the future. Whether sleeping in his childhood bedroom, camping in a tree house in the backyard, or taking a nap on the F-14 on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, Kelly is getting closer and closer to his dream of space exploration. Kelly’s photo scrapbooks of places on and off the planet that he slept in ended the story. Burton's jewel-colored illustrations enhance the sleepiness of the book. 3 to 7 years old.
Written by Stephanie Volkswagen Lucianovic; illustration by Vashti Harrison. A brown book for young readers; $17.99; 40 pages. When a little girl, who did not want to be named, learned that the bright light she saw in the night sky came from a dying star, she vowed to stay with it until it flashed. Over the years, she learned everything about planets and eventually became an astronaut. Every night, she would tell the "her" star to hold on for a while. When she finally landed on the moon, when her weary blue friend reached the end, our young astronaut was there. A lovely empathy lesson. Harrison's colorful pencil illustrations make this title stand out. 4 to 8 years old.
Written by Alan Lightman and Olga Pastuchiv; illustrated by Susanna Chapman. MIT Children's Press; $17.99; 40 pages. A summer day offers countless pleasures for young Ada, who is visiting her grandparents’ house on Maine Island. When Ada waited impatiently for night to fall—she likes stargazing the most—she kills time by observing the osprey’s lair, kayaking, and playing on the beach. Will the fog cancel the plan for the night? Susanna Chapman's lush watercolors perfectly complement the story of theoretical physicist Alan Lightman and co-author Olga Pastuchiv. The large number of details on each page—shells, nebulae, haze-shrouded huts—will attract young readers to linger. 4 to 6 years old.
Author: Deborah Underwood; drawn by Jorge Lacera. A brown book for young readers; $17.99; 40 pages. When planets orbit the sun, they suddenly discovered something new in the solar system. They were completely conservative, sent a letter to an unidentified object, and then began to communicate. Mercury, Venus, and other celestial bodies mark this object as an exoplanet, but is it? Unidentified objects think they are exoplanets and are offended by the title in the letter. Maybe this is just a matter of opinion. An imaginative way to consider other points of view. 4 to 8 years old.
Authors: Anne Yankliovic; illustrations by Annabel Buxton; paper engineering by Olivier Charonnel. Thames and Hudson; $29.95; 20 pages. This dazzling pop-up book proves that you can see miracles without leaving our home. This book combines spectacular paper projects, introduces the different ecosystems of the earth—bringing readers into the fiery core of the earth, the atmosphere, and the depths of the ocean—and explains how all living things are connected to each other. Each pop-up page-and alternate 2D spread-covers a complete theme, allowing children to spend as much time as possible to discover the inner workings of the planet. Over 6 years old.
Written by Michelle I. Mason. Bloomsbury; $17.99; 374 pages. In August 1995, when 17-year-old Jenny boarded a flight from New York to her hometown of St. Louis, she only thought about her potential boyfriend and the possibility of entering Columbia University after graduating from high school. When the plane landed three hours later, Jenny and the other passengers were told that their flight was missing-25 years ago. In Jenny's new world-it's 2020-her three grandparents have passed away, her best friend is now 42 years old, and she is at a loss in a world dominated by social media and smartphones. Jenny and other passengers are also the target of a growing number of increasingly violent conspiracy theorists who believe that the government is somehow involved in the mysterious reappearance of the plane. Over 12 years old.
Author: Mara Lockleaf; illustration by Daniel Duncan. Candle Wick Publishing; $17.99; 48 pages. As a child, Beatrice Shilling liked everything mechanical, and was more willing to spend her pocket money on tools rather than candy. By the age of 14, she had her own motorcycle and worked as a trainee engineer to provide electricity to rural England. Encouraged by her engineering mentor "Miss Partridge", Beatrice graduated with honors, but as a woman, it was difficult to find a job. Eventually hired by Royal Aircraft Corporation to write a manual on aircraft engines, Beatrice learned that the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots had trouble with engine splashing. She identified the fuel line problem and proposed a cheap repair method that was easy to manufacture in wartime. Shilling is a wonderful story, fascinating to tell, and is perfectly complimented by Duncan's illustrations. The three-page author's notes provide more information about the shilling and a bibliography. 5 to 9 years old.
Written by Sandra Nickel; drawn by Aimée Sicuro. Harry N. Abrams book, $18.99; 48 pages. Vera Rubin looked at the night sky from her bedroom window, determined to become an astronomer when she grew up. As Vera's career progressed, her work was dismissed as "quirky" and "ridiculous" by her male colleagues. Therefore, Vera not only began to study distant galaxies that other people were not interested in, but also began to study the mysteries between stars. She will change the discipline of astronomy through the study of dark matter (the matter between stars). This is a good story about perseverance and personal talent. The retro-style watercolor and ink illustrations fit the time frame of the 1950s very well. The author's notes, timetable, and bibliography complete the story of an outstanding scientist. 6 to 9 years old.
Author: Isabel Marinov; Illustration by Deborah Marcelo. Magical Lion Book; $17.95; 52 pages. As a child in Missouri, Edwin Hubble would sit alone at night looking up at the stars and wonder: how many stars are in the sky? How did the universe begin? Where did it come from? In 1897, on his eighth birthday, Edwin received a beautiful gift: a telescope built by his grandfather. Although Edwin liked astronomy, his father insisted that he study law; after completing his degree, Edwin became a high school teacher and basketball coach in Indiana. It was not until 1914, after his father's death, that Edwin returned to astronomy and finally made an amazing discovery: he discovered that the Andromeda Nebula is a separate galaxy, and later he discovered that the universe was expanding. In 1990, to commemorate these discoveries, the Hubble Space Telescope was put into orbit. Marcelo’s impressive illustrations emphasize the vast space; background material—including the author’s and illustrator’s notes—introduces young Edwin to the young sky watcher and the problems that plagued him. 7 to 10 years old.
Authors: Anne Yankliovic; by Annabel Baston; Paper Engineering by Olivier Charbonnel. Thames and Hudson; $29.95; 18 pages. Where does the moon come from? Why does it seem to change shape? Does the moon really affect the earth's oceans? Thames & Hudson answers these and more questions in another beautiful book. The cleverly designed pop-up window began with the origin of the moon and ended with the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to walk on the surface of the moon. age. 6 onwards.
Written by the Knights Templar Company; illustrated by Gail Armstrong. Big Picture Press; $24.99; 30 pages. Page-turning books are always very popular. There are more than 30 books in this huge book. The journey first defines what astronomers do and how to best observe stars (away from light pollution), and then introduces young readers to our planetary solar system and its location. A gorgeous spread covers the sun ("It is so big, it can hold more than a million Earths!"), while other pages introduce various types of stars and galaxies, space stations, and future Mars bases. The glossary ends the book. 8 to 12 years old.
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Rebecca Maksel is the Senior Associate Editor of Air & Space.
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