How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure

by John Rocco

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Impeccably researched and brilliantly illustrated, How We Got to the Moon is a stunning exploration of the people and technology that paved the way for NASA to execute the first moon landing. Readers of all ages will delight in the captivating stories, fun facts and diagrams included in this oversized volume.

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • YALSA EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION FINALIST • A ROBERT F. SIBERT HONOR BOOK

This beautifully illustrated, oversized guide to the people and technology of the moon landing by award-winning author/illustrator John Rocco (illustrator of the Percy Jackson series) is a must-have for space fans, classrooms, and tech geeks.

Everyone knows of Neil Armstrong's famous first steps on the moon. But what did it really take to get us there?

The Moon landing is one of the most ambitious, thrilling, and dangerous ventures in human history. This exquisitely researched and illustrated book tells the stories of the 400,000 unsung heroes—the engineers, mathematicians, seamstresses, welders, and factory workers—and their innovations and life-changing technological leaps forward that allowed NASA to achieve this unparalleled accomplishment.

From the shocking launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik to the triumphant splashdown of Apollo 11, Caldecott Honor winner John Rocco answers every possible question about this world-altering mission. Each challenging step in the space race is revealed, examined, and displayed through stunning diagrams, experiments, moments of crisis, and unforgettable human stories.

Explorers of all ages will want to pore over every page in this comprehensive chronicle detailing the grandest human adventure of all time!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525647416
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	10/06/2020
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	41,014
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1170L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 17 Years

About the Author

John Rocco is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including Blackout, recipient of the Caldecott Honor. Rocco has illustrated the covers for Rick Riordan's internationally bestselling series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, and The Trials of Apollo. He also created the illustrations for the #1 New York Times bestsellers Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes. Before making children's books, Rocco spent many years as creative director for Walt Disney Imagineering. If he couldn't make books, he would like to work as an engineer for NASA. He hopes this book will serve as his application. Rocco lives in Rhode Island with his wife, daughter, and several demanding animals. To find out more, visit roccoart.com, or follow him on Twitter at @johnroccoart and on Instagram at @johnrocco.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/28/2020

This expansive illustrated history of the Apollo space program delves ambitiously into the collective efforts and engineering feats required to send the first astronauts to the moon. In David Macaulay-esque style, pages brim with labeled diagrams, close-ups, and cutaways showcasing myriad technologies, including the inner workings of a rocket engine and the intricacies of spacesuit design. The book’s seven sections profile many lesser-known scientists, engineers, technicians, and seamstresses who comprised a workforce 400,000 strong. Scientific principles also get full billing, often accompanied by simple experiments easily conducted at home. Using realistic colorized drawings—many replicated from archival documents and photos—Rocco (Big Machines) maintains a consistent, accessible aesthetic throughout, while present-tense narration creates an exigent tone. In a culminating chapter about the Apollo 11 mission, for example, everyone involved “hop and pray that the parts they built, the stitches they sewed, and the programs they wrote and wove will all work perfectly.” This paean to ingenuity and collaboration, which also functions as a rocket science primer, is nothing short of stellar. Research notes, extensive source lists, a further reading list, acronyms, and an index conclude. Ages 10–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Rocco delivers a strikingly beautiful and highly informative account of the United States’s audacious effort to send human beings to the moon..”
—The Horn Book, starred review

“This paean to ingenuity and collaboration, which also functions as a rocket science primer, is nothing short of stellar." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A soaring tribute." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"A triumphant undertaking that places readers in the historic moment." —Booklist, starred review

"A gorgeously illustrated nonfiction book about the Apollo program and the space race." —School Library Journal

"[Rocco] focuses on heroes from a diferent realm. . . . [and] make[s] clear the risks and dangers of the project." —The Washington Post

“As an astronaut during the Space Shuttle and International Space Station eras, I stood on the shoulders of these innovating pioneers. This fascinating book illuminates the hard work and risks taken in service of one of the crowning achievements of our history in space.” —SCOTT KELLY, former NASA astronaut and commander of the International Space Station

“This spectacular book is going to inspire future generations of problem solvers and dreamers, whether it is to venture back into space or to look more closely at the seemingly overwhelming challenges we confront right here on Earth. Nothing short of stunning!” —DAVID MACAULAY, Caldecott Medal winner and co-creator of the New York Times bestseller The Way Things Work

“The extraordinary passion, ingenuity, and persistence of the 400,000 people who turned an ‘impossible’ dream into reality leap off every page of John Rocco’s beautifully illustrated, thoroughly researched, and lucidly written book.” —ANDREW CHAIKIN, author of A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts

"How We Got to The Moon is for everyone, the thousands on the firing line, those who developed the tools and the dreamers who wrote the books on how it could be done. It captures the time and the people not just for my generation but for all generations to come." —GENE KRANZ, retired NASA Flight Director of Apollo 11

From the Publisher

09/01/2020

Gr 5 Up—This illustrated nonfiction book depicts each step of the scientific and engineering journey that facilitated the moon landing. The history of the Apollo program takes a back seat to the explanations of various rocket science concepts. This is often presented in a problem-and-solution format, which adds a narrative aspect to the otherwise technical texts. The hand-drawn illustrations move from portraits to technical drawings with remarkable ease. Every page provides graphic features, including illustrations or callout boxes. Many graphics-heavy nonfiction books can be overwhelming, but this work's aesthetic is classic and coordinated. The stories of the people and their process are given as much weight as the many diagrams and engineering marvels. Several of the collage illustrations and individual profiles show the people of color and women who helped with the NASA program while acknowledging the overall lack of diversity and problems within both the time period and institution. There are a lot of books about the Apollo program, but this one offers many unique elements that make it a good addition to a collection. VERDICT A gorgeously illustrated nonfiction book about the Apollo program and the space race that does its best to highlight diversity and the human story but focuses primarily on engineering. An engaging second-level purchase for medium and larger libraries.—Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage P.L., AK

School Library Journal

★ 2020-08-04
A dramatic, meticulous record of the U.S. space program’s greatest achievement (so far).

Systematically describing major components of the Saturn V and Apollo capsules, each onboard instrument, and the central NASA support facilities, Rocco orchestrates a grand overview that mingles analyses of daunting challenges and technical problems with appreciative nods to some of the 400,000 scientists and industrial workers who faced and solved them. Tucking in explanations of orbital physics and other background along the way from Sputnik to Apollo 11 (the other Apollo missions are summarized at the end), he highlights both techno-triumphs, from humongous rockets to the icky but ingenious in-flight Fecal Collection System, as well as the crucial but unsung labors of capsule designer Max Faget and dozens of others. Wary of turning the heavily illustrated pages into busy thickets of extraneous detail, the Caldecott honoree mixes his own cleanly drawn conceptualizations and cutaway views with repainted (mostly color) versions of period photographs, documents, portraits, and renowned shots like Earthrise. With a main narrative composed in the present tense, the result gives the insights, events, disasters, and near disasters of over a half-century ago not only visual unity, but an immediacy that will sweep readers along—and serve as a constant reminder that the participants, from well-known names like Katherine Johnson to geologist Farouk El-Baz and seamstress Ellie Foraker, weren’t all White men or remote historical figures.

A soaring tribute. (author’s notes, sources, further reading, acronyms, index, map) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

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