Liftoff!: How the Apollo Moon Missions Made Alma Thomas's Art Soar

by Nina Crews, Nina Crews (Illustrator)

Overview

The Apollo astronauts gave people a new way of looking at the world—and so did modern artist Alma Thomas.

In 1969, people around the world watched as the Apollo 10 astronauts sent the first-ever live color television broadcasts from space. Abstract painter Alma Thomas was among those watching, and afterward, she began a series of bright, bold pieces inspired by the Moon missions and the marvels of space exploration.

In a dual narrative that weaves together key moments from the Apollo 10 mission with Alma’s process creating Snoopy Sees a Sunrise, celebrated author and illustrator Nina Crews presents a fascinating STEAM-themed perspective on an incredible scientific endeavor—and an incredible artist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798765682548
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/04/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Age Range:	8 - 9 Years

About the Author

Nina Crews uses collage to create distinctive picture books. Her first book, One Hot Summer Day, was published in 1995 and is still in print today. Her titles include A Girl Like Me, Seeing Into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright, The Neighborhood Mother Goose, and Below. Her work has been selected by ALA's Notable committee, the Junior Library Guild, NCTE, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Bank Street College of Education, and others. She is the daughter of children's book authors and illustrators Donald Crews and Ann Jonas. Nina lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and son.

Editorial Reviews

"The spare but informative text moves effortlessly between the parallel stories of the moon mission and Alma's painting. . . A powerful paean to both the space program and a noteworthy artist."—starred, Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 2025-07-16
The 1969Apollo 10 mission—considered the “dress rehearsal” forApollo 11 and the moon landing—inspires Alma Thomas, a Black abstract painter, to create an iconic painting,Snoopy Sees a Sunrise.Though space travel is serious business, the astronauts give their spacecraft playful nicknames.Apollo 10’s command module is dubbed Charlie Brown and the lunar module, Snoopy. Accordingly, Alma selects a fitting name for her work. Jacket art and endpapers artfully introduce the dual narrative; against the black of deep space float bright, confettilike shapes representing Alma’s signature “stripes.” Skillfully employing mixed-media and handmade scans, Crews uses different styles for each story. As the astronauts prepare for launch, the art looks fairly straightforward; as Alma prepares to paint, the palette turns colorful, with softer, rounded lines. The spare but informative text moves effortlessly between the parallel stories of the moon mission and Alma’s painting. Even the description of abstract expressionism (“Thomas…takes in impressions that she observes and then expresses those things in a picture”) is clear and age-appropriate. Crews’ visually arresting design takes advantage of the dramatic vistas seen by the astronauts: The lunar module hurdles around a tilted gray moonscape, and when astronaut Thomas Stafford exclaims, “You ought to see it up here,” multiple vintage TVs display images of the fragile and beautiful Earth. By contrast, Alma Thomas’ interpretation is one of glowing colors surrounded with a pink wash of early morning.

A powerful paean to both the space program and a noteworthy artist. (biography of Thomas, history of the Apollo program and its tradition of selecting mascots, photographs, source notes, bibliography, further reading)(Informational picture book. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews