Tag Archives: space flight

Pioneers of Space

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by Alex Hall

Part of the Amazing Adventures series, this book details the work of some pioneering astronauts. Photos and interesting facts about each astronaut’s work and subsequent place in history are presented in an engaging and accessible way.

Typical nonfiction features include a table of contents, glossary and index. Photos are clear and captions and short text blocks explain the photos quite well.

This nonfiction is geared toward those upper elementary students who might be at a second to third grade reading level. The information will keep them reading and the text will help them feel successful as readers with books that are interesting to them. Buy this book for your struggling readers. They will be hooked.

Zelda’s Big Adventure

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Zelda dreams of going into space and asks her barnyard friends for help. In a story reminiscent of “Little Red Hen”, her rather lazy friends decline her request and she does it alone. She works through the engineering plan, designs her spacesuit, runs through a series of experiments and ends up in space.

What a wonderful place! Zelda collects space rocks, counts planets and does all the work of an astronaut. It is hard work and she does it on her own. Upon her descent back to earth, her friends excitedly welcome her home. Then, the bragging starts – not Zelda, but her friends who brag that she asked for their help. Zelda, in typical hen fashion, looks past her friends’ poor behavior and decides that the next time, she might take her friends with her.

This fractured version of a much loved story is a nice addition to the mix. The illustrations are almost three dimensional in appearance and the characters are engaging. This book is also valuable for STEM teaching, as it pairs literature with some scientific cluck! Recommended.