Posts: 441
From: San Jose, California, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 07-09-2014 07:19 PM               

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My newest niece just arrived on the planet and the parents had the coolest idea to asked for books as baby gifts. Do you have any recommendations for space related books for young kids?

She obviously will need a week or two before she can start reading them, but they'd like to build a library for her as she grows up. Thanks for any ideas you may have!

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-09-2014 07:47 PM               

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I would highly recommend astronaut Mark Kelly's two Mousetronaut books.

Another good series is Jeffrey Bennett's "science adventure" books, including "Max Goes to the Space Station," "Max Goes to the Moon," "Max Goes to Mars" and "Max Goes to Jupiter." In addition to being a great introduction to space exploration, astronauts are recording themselves reading these books as part of Story Time From Space.

Buzz Aldrin has two children's books. "Reaching for the Moon" and "Look to the Stars," both for grades 1 through 3.

Lastly, though it won't be available until September, Jerry Ross' "Spacewalker: My Journey to the Stars" is a children's picture book version of his autobiography.

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 07-09-2014 07:56 PM               

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Danny Olivas also has a book, "Endeavour's Long Journey."

Thanks for posting this — because I was about to ask the same question. Eventually I'd like to get the children's books signed by their authors, or in the case of the "Max Goes..." series, by their reader. Couldn't get one in time to get it signed by Mike Hopkins (and I didn't know at the time else I'd have gotten one sign by Drew), but there's always next time.

Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 07-10-2014 10:43 AM               

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Great that her space library will have a nice head start from her uncle! I would recommend two books by Apollo CMPs: 'Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places' by Michael Collins (1976; revised and later republished as 'Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story'); and 'I Want to Know About a Flight to the Moon' by Alfred Worden, with introduction by TV's Fred Rogers (1974). Both are out of print, but available used on Amazon.

Also, two books by Apollo/Skylab astronaut Alan Bean: 'My Life as an Astronaut' (1989), and 'Mission Control, This is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon' (2009, co-authored with Andrew Chaikin).

But the book that sticks out in my mind growing up is 'This is Cape Canaveral' by Miroslav Sasek (1963; republished in 2009 under the title 'This Is the Way to the Moon'). He wrote a series of 'This Is..' books of colorful, graphic tours of worldwide locations. All are recommended.