Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon

by Torben Kuhlmann, David Henry Wilson (Translator)

Overview

A long time ago a mouse learned to fly . . . and crossed the Atlantic.

But what happened next? Torben Kuhlmann's stunning new book transports readers to the moon and beyond! On the heels of Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse comes Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon—where dreams are determined only by the size of your imagination and the biggest innovators are the smallest of all. The book ends with a brief non-fiction history of human space travel—from Galileo’s observations concerning the nature of the universe to man's first steps on the moon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735842625
Publisher:	NorthSouth Books
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Series:	Mouse Adventures
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	AD730L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Torben Kuhlmann lives and works in Hamburg as a freelance children’s author and illustrator. He studied illustration and communications design at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. He wrote and illustrated his first picture book, Lindbergh: the Tale of a Flying Mouse, in 2012 as his final thesis, and it was published in 2014 by NordSüd Verlag. It quickly became a bestseller and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Three more mouse adventures followed and were equally successful. In 2024, the tenth anniversary was celebrated by the publication of Earhart, the fifth book in the series. However, a few mouse-free books have also crept into the repertoire during the last ten years, including Moletown, The Clown Said No, and The Gray City.

David Henry Wilson, born in London, is a playwright, novelist, children’s book author, and translator. His plays have been produced in many well-known theaters in Great Britain as well as abroad, and his children’s books—especially the Jeremy James series—have been translated into many languages. His novel The Coachman Rat received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. For many years he lectured at the universities of Bristol (England) and Konstanz (Germany), where he founded the university theater. His translations from French and German cover many subjects, ranging from literary theory, art, travel, and general culture to children’s novels and picture books.

Editorial Reviews

Small pleasures fill the pages of Kuhlmann's picture-book-size graphic novel…Maybe it's the meticulous, photorealistic art (or just my scientific naïveté), but the mouse's experiments read not only as charming fun but also as somehow plausible…The successful moon landing and return are triumphant moments, but it's his tinkerings that provide a whole universe of joy.

The New York Times Book Review - Nicole Lamy

"Use this book for everything you can think of: in art lessons, history lessons, discussions on creativity and innovation, studies on why some people (or mice) think differently from everyone else; and the fact that everyone can achieve their goals, no matter how small or furry, if they only believe (and work and plan and experiment)."

New York Journal of Books

*Starred Review. "Kuhlmann intermixes beautiful wordless spreads and paragraphs of text as the mouse studies, sketches, builds, and ultimately takes to the skies. Rich with adventure and the spirit of discovery, the text rightfully declares, 'Nothing is too difficult for a clever mouse!'"— Julia Smith, Booklist

"The detailed, warm-tone illustrations, in pencil and watercolor, document the mouse’s progress as he repurposes household objects — an alarm clock, tin foil, a glass ink well — to construct a spacesuit and power his flight. Period details evoke the mid-1950s, and a plot twist suggests that the mouse’s work paved the way for the human space program."- Nicole Lamy, New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

★ 2016-06-01
A furry genius with eyes on the skies goes where no one has gone before.Golden-toned, lavishly detailed views of a mid-1950s world from a city mouse's eye level enrich a soaring tale of astronautic achievement. Inspired by a visit to that hidden wing of the Smithsonian where flying machines built by rodent aviators of the past are exhibited, a mouse resolves to bring back proof of his theory that the moon is made of stone (the other mice, understandably, find the notion that it's made of cheese more compelling). Persevering through multiple false starts and setbacks, including a disastrous fire caused by an experimental roller-skate rocket, he constructs at last an oddly familiar-looking multistage craft that carries him into space and on to a lunar landing. Clad in a space suit with an ink-bottle helmet, he ventures out to gather a souvenir rock and plant a tiny flag, then returns in triumph to be acclaimed by his peers. The illustrations are visually immersive for their wealth of precisely rendered period items and architecture, also adding side business both humorous and dramatic to the epic venture. Positing that some of the mouse's diminutive but exact design drawings later fell into human hands and inspired the Apollo program, Kuhlmann (Moletown, 2015) closes with a short history of our own early space travel featuring photorealistic portraits of that other Armstrong and like (supposed) pioneers. "One Small Step for a Mouse" indeed. (Illustrated fiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews