Q: What happens when you take two Global Superpowers, dozens of daring pilots, thousands of engineers and scientists, and then point them at the night sky and say “GO!”?
A: A SPACE RACE
The whole world followed the countdown to sending the first men to the moon. T-Minus: The Race to the Moon written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon (no relation) is the story of the people who made it happen, both in the rockets and behind the scenes.
For my book review I am going to call on my resident expert, Son #2 for an (almost) “Man on the Street Interview”. Son #2 is interested in all things space, science and flying so I thought this would be a perfect book to ask his opinion:
Q: What is “T Minus- The Race to the Moon” about?
A: It recounts the events with a little creativity added of the space race between the United States and Russia. It includes all of the tragedies and successes.
Q: Was it hard reading it a graphic novel format?
A: The pictures really complemented the story. They used two different fonts one for the Americans and one for the Russians so that you knew which side of the story it was focusing on. On the side margins they also included information about the rockets and whether they were successful or not.
Q: Who do you think would like reading this book.
A: Any kid who likes space and graphic novels. The simple layout is great for those people who are new to reading graphic novels which can sometimes be hard to follow.
Q: Do you think this is a good way to share a historical event? Why?
A: Yes. The pictures give it more depth and pull you into the story, the rocket pictures facts were interesting and made it easier to understand. I also liked learning some of the behind the scenes information.
Thank you Son #2.
If you have a rocket boy (or girl) you might want to check this book out.
Suzanne Santillan
Writing on the Sidewalk
