If You Decide to Go to the Moon (2005)

Written in the style of an advice manual for young would-be astronauts, Faith McNulty's If You Decide To Go To The Moon is an engaging and informative picture-book about a (theoretical) lunar landing, complete with a mostly unwritten personal adventure story - a young boy-astronaut leaves behind his sister, heading for space, and the moon! - and quite a bit of factual information, concerning everything from what one would bring, on a spaceship to the moon, to how one would walk, once there. A final, four-page fold-out spread, in full color, greets the young space-traveler, as he returns to Earth, emphasizing that, in the end, there really is no place like home...

One of our November selections, over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our current theme is "Outer Space," this is yet another book I am glad to have discovered! The manner in which the story is presented will be very appealing for young children, I think, and the illustrations by Steven Kellogg will draw them further into the adventure. After all, what child doesn't dream of going to the moon? With this book, they will be encouraged to really believe that they can! ( )

This story tells the imaginary journey a young boy takes to the moon. Although the book is technically considered science fiction, all of the information about the Earth, moon and space are in fact non-fiction. Students could learn a great deal from the story as well as from the breathtaking illustrations. The specific attention to detail described in the boy's journey and from the pictures really makes the reader feel as if they're on their first trip to the moon. As much as the story is about a trip to the moon, it is also about appreciating our planet and all of the life on it. The boy describes how lonely it is space and wonders what it would be like if Earth had no air or water which are the two important things we need to survive that we sometimes take for granted. This book is very educational but also makes you appreciate what you call home. ( )

This fun book is about how to get to the moon and what to do after you land. Most importantly, it tells you how to return home. The story starts by telling the reading what to pack, what they will experience during lift off, as well as traveling through space. Reading this book will take a student through the experience of going to the moon step by step in an exciting way. The book follows the journey of a young boy as he goes off on an adventure into space in the rocket ship headed for the moon. It follows his activities, swimming about the cabin, sleeping tied down, and landing on the moon in his spacesuit. I loved the illustration and it would be a fun and simple read aloud for K-3 grades. The text is simple. ( )

Although this book is technically fiction (it portrays the ficticious journey of a young boy in outer space), so much of the information presented is nonfiction. Written in second person perspective in the style of a how-to, "If You Decide to Go to the Moon," gives young readers tons of information about how and what you need to survive in space. It vividly describes what life feels and looks like in space, and gives elaborate information and beautiful illustrations of the moon. I read this book to first graders as a supplement to our solar system science unit, and they loved it, although the text did feel overly wordy and heavy at times. This might read best with a slightly older audience (grade 2 or 3 and up). ( )

This books talks about a journey to the moon. It includes things you will need to go on your journey and things you will see when you are out of space and the things you will do. This is a good story because it gives students facts about outer space and the moon, they can use their imagination based on the illustrations and the story on what it will be like traveling to the moon. This story has key facts throughout the book that will give students knowledge about space. This book can be used for grades 1 and 2. Students can write a list of things they will want to bring with them to travel to the moon.