Space Race

by Sylvia Waugh

Book Overview

A School Library Journal Best Book of the YearAn ALA Notable BookEleven-year-old Thomas Derwent remembers only one phrase from the language of the Other Place, and he's never thought much about it.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385327668
• ISBN13: 9780385327664
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 10 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 9

Customer Reviews

Great Book

It is a very touching story. It is easy for a boy to imagine places described in this book.

Space Race

Thomas and his father Patrick have lived in Belthorp, a small village in England, for five years. Thomas has learned to be very happy there. So he isn't pleased when his father tells him that they must go back home. Thomas has come to feel at home in Belthorp. His father reminds him that they were only in Belthorp for a purpose, and that purpose has been completed now.Thomas, an honest boy, has always been truthful with his neighbor, Mrs. Dalrymple. He told her about the space ship the size of a golf ball that he and his father traveled to Belthorp in. Of course, to fit inside it, they had to shrink down very tiny. Then, when they got out, they zoomed right back up. And Thomas told his best friend Mickey that the moon was nothing special. He and his father flew around it twice on their way to Belthorp --- a navigational error --- and he didn't know why anybody would want to go there. But somehow, Mrs. Dalrymple and Mickey just thought Thomas had a great imagination. In fact, Mickey gets mad at Thomas for telling him that he has to leave Belthorp to go back to Ormingat. He thinks Thomas should just tell the truth, that he's really moving to Canada like Patrick says.Thomas is angry enough at having to leave earth that he tells his father he won't do it. He's forgotten Ormingat, even the language. But his father says he has no choice.Then something happens to change that. He can remain an earth boy, play the youngest shepherd in the Christmas play, and live with Mrs. Dalrymple. The key to it all is within his grasp. In fact, he may not be able to leave earth. What does he feel about that?(...)

Best Book I've Ever Read

Space Race is an awesome book. So if you are and eager reader I think you will like this book too. The author, Sylvia Waugh, uses a lot of interesting words to make a great book. It is about an eight year old boy named Thomas who lived on a far away planet, Ormingat, and had to come to Earth because his dad had a job to do. Thomas makes a new friend,Mickey, so his dad tells him not to tell anyone who he really is or where he is really from.Thomas didn't listen to that and told Mickey but it is a good thing that Mickey doesn't listen to him.When the time had come the Ormingat people said they had to go back to Ormingat.Will Thomas and his dad leave or stay.If you want to find out then read Space Race.

A new book to me

I thought that this book was a new type of book. A normal book is ussaly just something exciting happens and that is it for kids books but this book is different because I ussaly cant read a real kind of far out book and enjoy it but I enjowed this book so much. I think that Mrs.Waugh has brought on a new kind of book. The book is not one of those books about creepy aliens and all that junk, it is about real aliens witgh real feelinggs trying to get home just like any other person would do. If you like this book I would sujest reading the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman.