Imagine, you live in 1969, you have a rocket kit and astronauts are headed to the moon. What would you do? In Go for the Moon: A Rocket, a Boy, and the First Moon Landing Chris Gall shows us a boy travelling to the moon, just as the astronauts. Play turned real life in imagination.

What I am Reviewing
Go for the Moon: A Rocket, a Boy, and the First Moon Landing.
Chris Gall
Roaring Brook Press
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.
Received: ARC copy, trade paperback
48 pages, 5-10 years, picture book
Outer space, rockets, Aeronautics, exploration
The Apollo 11 astronauts have prepared carefully for their attempt to be the first men to land on the moon. The young narrator of this book has prepared carefully, too: he explains the design of the spacecraft, the flight from the earth to the moon, and the drama of touching down – while shadowing the astronaut’s voyage with one of his own.

The Details
Absolutely wonderful full colour images fill the 48 pages of this picture book. Geared to the younger elementary student, the reader is walked through all the stages of this monumental trip to the moon.
Narrated by a young boy, we are walked through his excitement and wonder of travelling to the moon. The young man explains the details of this journey as he works through his toy spaceship kit.
We learn how the spaceship is made and how it works, this is a nicely meaty picture book that is carefully illustrated to show the details well.
Many of the pages show a cut out so we knew what the narrator needs to do with his own toy spaceship.

My Recommendation
Should you get Go for the moon? YES! Run out, buy it, use it for your studies of the first moon landing. Buy it so you can see how toy kits can simulate real life and make the learning run deeper. Buy it so you can learn how the Apollo 11 was able to complete its’ mission. By it so that you can do the experiments the narrator did yourself.


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