The Moon Over Star

by Dianna Hutts Aston

Book Overview

In July 1969, the world witnessed an awe-inspiring historical achievement when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. For the young protagonist of this lyrical and hopeful picture book, that landing is something that inspires her to make one giant step toward all of the possibilities that life has to offer. Caldecott Honor-winning painter Jerry Pinkney and the poetic Dianna Hutts Aston create a moving tribute...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803731078
• ISBN13: 9780803731073
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Dial Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 9.3" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 6 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 3

Customer Reviews

This wonderfully nostalgic book takes the dreamer back to the carefree days of the Apollo 11 landing

Nineteen sixty nine was a very interesting year. All the children were exited because the astronauts were slated to land on the moon that day. A young boy, along with everyone else in church, prayed for Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, Jr. and Michael Collins. The boy was a dreamer and hoped that one day he too could go to the moon. His gramps wasn't as optimistic as he was and the old man thought "the space program was a waste of money." He had worked hard all his life and was tired, "lifetime-tired." He and his cousins weren't tired and after their chores they "built their own spaceship," from a bunch of old wooden scraps. The five of them together would drift off in their imagination, listen to the "rumble, the roar, and the force of the Saturn rocket." Gram hollered to them to come in and watch the television. The astronauts were about to land. Gramps had different ideas. He was an old farmer, but perhaps he would watch the moon walk with them. Or would he? This is a beautiful rendition of the story of young children who, in watching the Apollo 11 astronauts reach to the stars, desired a bit of that dream themselves when they grew up. The art work is stunningly nostalgic and it makes the older reader simply want to hop on a time machine and head back to those carefree exciting days of the Apollo missions. This is a book that the adult reader will enjoy just as much as its intended audience!

A Visit By Jerry Pinkney, Illustrator

Jerry Pinkney is a wonderful and well known children's book illustrator. He showed us many pictures he drew, even new ones from two new books coming out soon! We learned that he loved to draw and read as a child, but reading was hard and slow for him. We saw a slide show of old photographs of his family and photographs of his illustrations. As a young boy, he sold newspapers. An artist, who had a studio down the block, noticed Jerry's sketches and invited him to his studio. Wow, a real studio and a real artist! He inspired Jerry to make drawing his career. Jerry soon had his own studio, it was small and messy. Now he has a new one! Jerry really didn't know he could have a career doing what he loved most until he met the real artist down the block! Jerry has illustrated over 100 books and he has even been invited to the White House! His visit was a real life biography! Jerry Pinkney inspired us to draw more! If you get the chance to meet you might like him and want to read the many books he has illustrated. -Mrs Shapiro's second grade class, Croton-on-Hudson, NY