- Hardcover: 40 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (Jun 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060554452
- ISBN-13: 978-0060554453
- Product Dimensions: 28.6 x 22.6 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 703,458 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"A Buzz-worthy book!"--Time for Kids
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
I walked on the moon. This is my journey. But it didn't begin when I stepped on board "Apollo 11" on July 1, 1969. It began the day I was born.
Becoming an astronaut took more than education, discipline, and physical strength. It took years of determination and believing that any goal is possible--from riding a bike alone across the George Washington Bridge at age ten to making a footprint on the Moon.
I always knew the Moon was within my reach--and that I was ready to be on the team that would achieve the first landing. But it was still hard to believe when I took my first step onto the Moon's surface.
We all have our own dreams. This is the story of how mine came true. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
The name my parents gave me was Edwin Eugene, but the name my sister gave me was the one that would stay with me all my life. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The name my parents gave me was Edwin Eugene, but the name my sister gave me was the one that would stay with me all my life. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an 'inspirational' book intended for younger kids, ages 4-9, written in a very basic style telling the story about how Buzz Aldrin got his name, 'Buzz' and how he got to go to the Moon. In its brief 40 pages, many with hand-drawn/painted illustrations, it gives an overview of his life and thoughts.
On the down side, there are no actual mission photographs. On the upside, I have a copy signed by Buzz himself, when he visited the UKs National Space Musem in June 2005, when I was privileged to meet a real-life walking legend!
A great bedtime book for little ones, or school infants reading.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. was the second man to walk on the moon when he followed Neil Armstrong on July 16, 1969, while Michael Collins circled the moon in the Apollo 11 spacecraft. In "Reaching for the Moon," Aldrin tells the story of his life that led up to walking on the moon, taking key episodes from his life and presenting them as life lessons to his young readers, such as sinking in a lake because he would not let go of a bucket of rocks he had collected ("I knew that if something was important to you, you had to hold on"). Aldrin also shows how various things in his life foreshadowed what he would do on the moon (e.g., his mother's maiden name was Moon and his first airplane flight was in a small plane painted to look like an eagle).
The book follows Aldrin from his childhood and playing sports in school to graduating from West Point and joining the Air Force. After flying combat missions in the Korean War, Aldrin applied to the astronaut program and was not accepted until the second time he tried. The number two also comes up when Aldrin's first space flight was a Gemini mission. The description of the Apollo 11 mission is quite straightforward and Aldrin emphasizes the importance of what they were doing without every talking about how it came to be that he was the second man on the moon instead of the first (the reasoning was actually quite simple: Armstrong was a civilian, Aldrin was still in the military, and the U.S. government did not want a soldier to be the first person on the moon). Everybody remembers Armstrong's first words on the moon, but Aldrin recalls his own apt description of the moon as "Magnificent desolation."
Aldrin's narrative ends with the plaque that he and Armstrong left on the moon and ends with a message promoting space exploration to his readers. Aldrin does not touch on the depression and alcoholism he had to contend with after leaving NASA and which he detailed in his autobiography "Return to Earth." But you cannot fault Aldrin for his choice of perspective in this book. In his dedication Aldrin calls the original astronauts explorers of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions to be the first generation of space explorers. The second generation would be those flying shuttle missions to the space station, while the third generation of future space explorers would be the young students who read this book. The paintings in "Reaching for the Moon" are by Wendell Minor, and older readers will note that in the two-page painting of the George Washington Bridge below the bridge on the New York City side is the little red lighthouse of children's book fame.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a children's book that tells the story of how Buzz worked hard to become an astronaut.
There are no "participation trophies" or "everyone's a winner" here.
It's beautifully illustrated and I would certainly recommend it.
There are no "participation trophies" or "everyone's a winner" here.
It's beautifully illustrated and I would certainly recommend it.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
