Marty's Mission: An Apollo 11 Story (Tales of Young Americans)

by Judy Young (Author) David Miles (Illustrator)

Marty's Mission: An Apollo 11 Story (Tales of Young Americans)
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
It's 1969 and Marty's family lives on the U.S. island of Guam, where his father manages the NASA tracking station. It's important work and never more so than during the Apollo 11 space mission, where the tracking station relays signals back and forth between the astronauts and Mission Control in Houston, Texas. Along with the rest of the world, Marty listens to every mission update, including the historic landing on the moon and astronaut Neil Armstrong's first steps. But during Apollo 11's return to Earth, something goes wrong. There is a problem with the tracking station's antenna during the final hours of the mission. The problem must be resolved--the antenna is the only way Mission Control can communicate with the astronauts before Apollo 11 splashes down. Marty finds himself playing a key role in helping bring the craft safely back to Earth. Based on actual events, young readers get a front-row seat to this historic event in this new entry in the Tales of Young Americans series.
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School Library Journal

Gr 1-3Marty's Mission is about the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 told through the eyes of Marty, the son of a man managing the NASA Tracking Station in Guam. The time difference does not affect Marty as he stays up to hear about the launch and watch the landing the next day, all while eagerly awaiting to see Apollo 11 return to Earth. After the Tracking Station's bearings become stuck, it's up to Marty to grease them up enough to ensure adequate communication and a safe landing for the astronauts on board. Thankfully, a crisis is averted thanks to Marty. Told with vivid detail and accompanying illustrations, this entertaining story about a young boy's role in space history also gives a good overview of the Apollo 11 moon mission. There are plenty of stories about the men who landed on the moon, but not a lot is written for children about what the time was like back on Earth or even what complications arose during the mission. The artwork portrays the cool evenings, detailed space transmission parts, and stressful mission that Marty has to undertake in order to save the day. VERDICT An excellent purchase for elementary school collections.—Molly Dettmann, Norman North High School, OK

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

In this addition to the Tales of Young Americans series of informational picture books, Young tells the story of the Apollo 11 mission from the perspective of 10-year-old Marty, whose father works at the NASA tracking station in Guam, relaying signals to Houston. Marty eagerly follows the mission's progress with a friend, until Marty's father urgently requests his help. An antenna at the tracking station has gotten stuck, and the adults need smaller arms than their own to perform emergency surgery: "Do you think you can do it?" Young's storytelling captures the breathless excitement that surrounded the Apollo 11 voyage, which Miles conveys through cheerful artwork. Readers will wonder how much of the events depicted are true: while the author's note explains that the story is based on a real boy who greased a malfunctioning bearing, further background material is lacking. Ages 7-8. (Apr.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781534110144
Lexile Measure
790
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date
April 20, 2019
Series
Tales of Young Americans
BISAC categories
JUV005000 - Juvenile Fiction | Boys & Men
JUV016150 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - 20th Century
JUV036010 - Juvenile Fiction | Technology | Astronauts & Space
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Project Apollo (U.S.)
Apollo 11 (Spacecraft)
Space flight to the moon
Tracking (Engineering)
Radar
Antennas

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