A Smile as Big as the Moon: A Special Education Teacher, His Class, and Their Inspiring Journey Through U.S. Space Camp

by Mike Kersjes

Book Overview

Mike Kersjes always believed that his students could do anything--even attend the prestigious Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, where some of America's best and brightest high school students compete... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312303149
• ISBN13: 9780312303143
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Amazing

A Smile as Big as the Moon by Mike Kersjes is a book that I recommend to people of all ages. It's a cute story and is also inspiring. The way the teacher cares about his students teaches students and teachers both that one person can change the lives of others. The plot of the story convinces people that even though there are people that don't look, act, and do things the same way; everyone should be equal and treated the same way. It inspires people to try to make a difference in others' lives, and to try and help those who need a self-esteem boost. Most of the time all it takes is just a hello. So I give A Smile as Big as the Moon a 5 for inspiration.

Great Book!

A Smile as Big as the Moon, by Mike Kersjes is a very inspirational book. It is about a group of special education students that go to space camp. The main character of the story is the special education teacher, Mike Kersjes. This book tells how he guided his students into space camp and showed them the way. In the end, the students succeeded and won many awards, although they had many difficulties and challenges along the way. The students didn't believe they could do it at first, then they built up their self-esteem and succeeded. One reason the students were able to build their confidence, was because there teacher was very confident that the students could do it. Overall, I feel that this was a great book and it is mainly for students and teachers to read, although anyone can read it.

A Story of Triumph

Of all the the books I've ever read, none were quite as inspirational as the non-fictional tale A Smile as Big as the Moon, by Mike Kersjes. Kersjes is a special education teacher, who, one day while looknig through a magazine, came up with the wild idea of taking his kids to space camp. He would have to call people, sometimes dozens of times, just to set up an appointment. Eventually, through the help of a lot of people in high places he did get approval. However, funding for a trip like this was more than fifty thousand dollars. Through hard work and a lot of dedication, Kersjes and his assistant Robynn were able to overcome every obstale with relative ease. I would recomend this book to students, parents, teachers, and anyone that knows how to read, because this story is capable of putting a smile on anyones face. I would defintiely give this book five stars.

Awesome!

A Smile as Big as the Moon, by Mike Kersjes, is a very inspiring and encouraging book. Personally, I was happy to see a teacher who took risks to make those children with disabilities feel proud of themslves. Personally, as an employee at a school with disabled children, I know what it takes to make those children happy. I can call Kersjes a gifted teacher who devoted his time, energy, and money to help those children in special education. Based on a true story, it is very interesting and keeps the reader eager to know what happened next. I would reommed this book to teachers, parents and older children.

I found this one really hard to put down

There are some authors whose books I'll pick up and read in one sitting. I'm usually looking out the window and it's daylight again and by now I'm not suprised. This book was read like those others. I just had trouble putting it down. I found the story and the style in which it was told to be very captivating. I must admit a slight bias because I am acquainted with the author. One of the reasons I mention this is because I could picture the interaction and know that in each scenario, this is something Coach Kersjes would do. This is also one of the reasons why I enjoyed this story. Coach Kersjes is just as charismatic in person as he seems in his book. His story is the kind that I wish were retold over and over again on the evening news. This is a must read for any teacher that gets tired of the mindless drivel produced by Hollywood (i.e. Boston Public on FOX) and wants to see or read a real and true story that they can affirm by experience is the type of everyday event that they have witnessed and is still compelling.