How are characters’ lives and perspectives interrelated and interdependent? How are these interconnections shown in text and image? Before the moon landings,there is the story of Gemini and the tragedy of Apollo 1,whose crew was killed on the ground in a training accident.There were other astronauts,who were killed in flying accidents,before their space missions.

The crew of Apollo 15,was involved in a "stamps" scandal,as they tried to make money from their voyage.John Young,commanded Apollo 16,and along with Jim Lovell,was the most travelled of all the astronauts. From the tragedy of the fire in Apollo 1 during a simulated launch, Apollo 8's bold pioneering flight around the moon, through to the euphoria of the first moonwalk, and to the discoveries made by the first scientist on the moon aboard Apollo 17, this book covers it all. As mentioned, this book gives me almost unlimited ideas of ways it could be used with a KS1 class across the curriculum, not just an English, so I think it could be a really affective text with the right class.What a personally powerful book. A Man on the Moon is such a wonderful reminder of what we are capable of as a species and what wonderful things we can accomplish when we work together. I hope to see a man on the moon in my lifetime, although I doubt it will happen, which is a shame.

If you ask anyone about the topic of 'astronauts' and the 'moon' the frequent return of data starts with 'Neil Armstrong'. Before reading this book much of my knowledge of the moon landings were hazy and my ability to recall the 12 men who have walked on the moon extremely limited. Chaikin explores the lives of the Apollo astronauts in detail and as a reader I found this personal development crucial. The fact that the story is ‘a day in the life’ style means it is written in the 3rd person, I think this really adds to the narrative as the reader is able to notice things that Bob does not- such as the aliens. He is also the author of Air and Space: The National Air and Space Museum Story of Flight, published in 1997 by Bulfinch Press. Chaikin's illustrated narrative of space exploration, SPACE: A History of Space Exploration in Photographs, was published in 2002 by Carlton Books. He co-authored the text for the highly successful collection of Apollo photography, Full Moon, which was published by Knopf in 1999. The usual suspects (Apollo 8, 11 and 13) are covered in detail. As is the tragedy of Apollo 1. But Chaikin also gives a lot of room to the Apollo 12 and 14-17 missions. The third part of the book mostly being about Lunar geology. The Blue Peter book of the year 2004 is well written and illustrated by Simon Bartram. Bold and colourful pictures in the story add well to the simple yet humorous tale that Bob journeys on day by day.This tale starts off perfectly happy but once Pitch, the King of Nightmares, finds out that this boy has never had a nightmare he vows to make the boy his own and deem him the Prince of Nightmares. In the outcome of the battle the boy is left alone on the moon to be raised by the Moonbots, Moonmice and giant Glowworms who were also left behind. As he grows, he discovers the planet Earth through his father's telescope & realises that there are children on the far away planet that are much like him. As the children's lost balloons float up to him he finds that he can hear their hopes and dreams if he held them to his ear. How is difference constructed, and what does it mean for a character’s belonging in an unequal world? Have you ever wondered who or what lived on the moon? William Joyce's debut The Man in The Moon not only introduces to the jolly man who lives there (nope I'm not talking Santa Claus), he'll also tell you how he got there. We're huge fans of the moon in our home, and I can say for certainty that next time we're looking up at the moon, we'll all be looking for the wonderful man in the moon, the guardian of children.

Like most kids from a young age I have always had an interest in space travel and astrology. However this is my first time reading about the missions and the individual pioneers who first traversed out of earths orbit 5 decades ago. SPaG- there is some interesting vocabulary used in this book that might possibly be new to pupils in KS1, such as somersaults, souvenir, stilts, craters, astronauts. It also acts as a good lead on to talking about the difference between writing about yourself and writing from a different perspective. Pupils could write their own day in the life, either of themselves, or maybe someone else like is done in the book. Unfortunately, the future I envisioned and hoped for (and which showcased itself spectacularly in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey) never materialized. The last manned lunar flight was 47 years ago, in 1972. Today, of the 12 men who walked on the moon, only four are still alive. Of the additional 14 men who went to the moon without setting foot on it, only eight are still living. All of these living lunar explorers are now very old. I feel fortunate to have witnessed such a unique and great achievement in my lifetime. But, as NASA administrator George Low said to retiring lunar astronaut Stu Roosa, “You know, there will never be another Apollo in anybody’s life.” from 1961 to 1972, the objective was as clear and inspiring as any you could ask for. You had only to go outside at night and look at it. The book ends with a look at the things people did after Apollo had ended. But at this point I had mostly lost interest. I don’t remember any zero-gravity peeing happening in that chapter.Man on the Moon (a Day in the Life of Bob) won the Blue Peter Book of the Year award in 2004 and became recommended reading material to support areas of Literacy and Numeracy as part of the UK's National Curriculum. It was reprinted in 2004 and shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal the same year. The story of each moon mission is described in vivid detail.Lots of dramatic moments,the first view of the earth from lunar orbit,(Apollo 8),the selection of the first man to step on the moon (Apollo 11),the moment of near disaster for Apollo 12,the near catastrophic crisis aboard Apollo 13,and the landing of the last man on the moon (Apollo 17).