Moon Flights (New True Books)

ea. vol: 45p. photogs. reprods. glossary. index. (New True Bks.). CIP. Childrens. June 1985. PLB $7.95. Grade 2-4 Typical of the series, these two books feature numerous illustrations with a large-type text. Moon Flights presents brief background information on the history of rocketry and unmanned probes as well as a description of the Apollo II lunar landing and following Apollos. The Voyager Space Probes describes the solar system, a touch of the history of astronomy, early space exploration (lunar, Martian and Pioneer probes) and the Voyager flights to Jupiter and beyond. Photography in both is excellent, relying on many NASA photos, but they are distressingly small in Voyager. . . Both books are marred by the inclusion of too much background material that is superficially treated due to space limitations. Moon Flights, in neglecting the Mercury and Gemini projects, the Apollo fire and the Christmas 1968 lunar orbit of Apollo 8 , lacks the suspense of the effort and fails to convey the sense of wonder to readers who did not live through that era. In Voyager. . . , the brief mentions of early astronomy and prior space flights are irrelevant to an appreciation of the Voyager expeditions and infringe on the space available for describing those expeditions. In both cases, Fradin's attempt at suspense is of the weak "if nothing goes wrong" variety. Stating that Russia thought that a man-on-the-moon program was "too dangerous and costly to try. But the U.S. decided to do it," is too simplistic and matter-of-fact, as is his statement that "the outer planets would be lined up in a row" at the time of the Voyager probes. The usefulness of these books will be primarily as additional sources of Voyager and Apollo photographss. Jeffrey A. French, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library
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