If You Decide to Go to the Moon

I read this book to my kids, then 4 and 7, at the New York City Public Library in Dec. 2019. They were captivated, and they lingered on each page to explore the illustrations. We read it again as soon as we finished. I loved it so much that I still remember the details a year and a half later."If You Decide to Go to the Moon" combines whimsy (a kid goes to the moon by himself, with his homemade rocket, his pet dog, and some supplies he packs from his house) with realism (the moon is rendered in stark detail; the boredom of space travel is confronted honestly, and the heart-swelling moment of looking back at the Earth is captured perfectly). Steven Kellogg's illustrations, as always, are breathtaking in their intricacy and imaginativeness.Other commenters have said that they thought it was odd that the book veered into talking into Earth at the end - how precious our home planet is, and how incredibly rare and worth of protection. I don't think that's odd at all. Many, probably most, astronauts share this sentiment as their dominant epiphany from their time in space. Earth's biodiversity and human diversity are depicted in ebullient detail in the final pages, which made me want to cheer and cry at the same time. My kids had fun finding all their favorite animals on the biodiversity page while I was surreptitiously wiping a tear from my cheek. (I'm an ecologist, so I care about this stuff a lot, and I'm glad that my kids are absorbing these ideas at a young age.)The only thing that slightly bothered me was that it's the boy who goes to the moon alone, while his sister helps him pack and waves goodbye - playing into the stereotype of "boys go out and have adventures, while girls are helpers who take care of things at home." Perhaps one shouldn't read too much into this. I think it would have been better, though, if the boy and the girl had both blasted off for the Moon. Astronauts never travel alone, and a diverse crew with many perspectives and abilities is essential for a successful mission!As other reviewers have said, the "3-5 years" age range is not really accurate. I think 3 would be a bit too young, unless the 3-year-old has an unusually long attention span. And my second grader liked it and learned from it, even though she was onto chapter books by then. It would be a great book to provoke discussion in a grade school classroom. I highly recommend it.

This is a nice book which is written like a guide to travelling to the moon. I’ve been using it to introduce the discussion of STEM in school with younger children.

Very nice book

Not over the head of a child but covers step by step readiness

My son is so keen on space science, planets, moon and etc. He found the book so interesting and loved it. He read it many times