Kid Tested, Librarian Recommended: To the moon & back

With the Artemis II astronauts safely back on the ground, they’ve now been to the moon and back! They’ve been on an incredible adventure, and have seen things few other humans have ever seen.

Missions that explore outer space remind us to think beyond our own world and to look to the stars for what might be possible in the future. So long as humans have the bravery and the grit to chase our dreams, we can continue to achieve things that were once thought to be impossible, and we can quite literally shoot for the stars.

Kids can escape the pull of gravity with their own out-of-this-world reading adventures!

Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde written by Robert Venditti & illustrated by Dusty Higgins

A cape from outer space turns an average kid into a superhero! Miles has been entrusted with a great gift, but he must learn how to use it properly to save his friends from a coming threat.

I liked this book because Miles is a very realistic character. He’s a kid who has been given superhero-like powers, but he sometimes messes up and doesn’t always do the right thing with those powers. Miles always tries his best to be a good person even when things get hard or even dangerous! If you like this book, there’s also a sequel.

“Clever and funny with an irresistible premise, this middle grade adventure/comic book hybrid will engage even the most reluctant reader.” —Rick Riordan, author of the worldwide bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

An unexpected visitor appears in Meg Murray’s house one windy night and blows her whole world wide open. This sends Meg, her little brother Charles Wallace, and her classmate Calvin on an adventure across the stars. Together, the three travel across different planets, fighting back against a darkness that threatens to devour earth and the whole universe!

L’Engle is one of my favorite authors. While this book is a bit more conceptual and harder to understand than her other books, the beauty of her weird and wonderful settings, and the quirks of her engaging characters make this book well-worth any struggle in reading it. If you prefer graphic novels, the library owns a graphic novel adaptation and a movie version.

Artemis The Brave by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams

Learn more about the namesake of the Artemis mission. Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon, appears here as a young schoolgirl with a problem. The new kid at Artemis’s school is wreaking havoc on her life. Now, Artemis must stand up and show her courage to everyone at Mount Olympus Academy.

This series is a fun read for kids who might not be ready for books like Percy Jackson. It is much more of a middle-grade boarding school story than it is a mythology story. It can still introduce curious kids to the figure of Artemis and maybe it can help them figure out why the mission was named after her. There’s also a graphic novel adaptation of it.

Farther Than The Moon by Lindsay Lackey

Houston Stewart has achieved one of his biggest dreams! He’s gotten into a prestigious junior astronaut recruitment program. Houston's only regret is that he can’t take his younger brother Robbie, who has cerebral palsy, with him to the program. Both boys share a love of space and a dream of becoming an astronaut. They also share a love for each other and a determination to do whatever it takes to make each other’s dreams come true.

I read this whole book in one sitting because, as though I was in the zero gravity of space, I couldn’t put it down! The characters are well-drawn and engaging. The plot is fun and well-paced, and the setting is enough to inspire any kid to become an astronaut! I especially appreciated the author’s note at the end where she explained her personal connections to some of the story elements.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Are there other ways to get to the moon without taking a rocketship? Minli is about to find out. She leaves home on an epic quest to find the unfindable, climb the unclimbable, and do the impossible. Assisted by a magic goldfish and a flightless dragon, Minli sets out to find the Man on the Moon to bring health and prosperity back to her home.

I read this book for the first time with my grandma and I’ve loved it ever since! I adore how this book blends together an engaging plot, intriguing characters, and side-story myths and folklore vignettes. The myths and folklore are braided in so well, they did not intrude at all upon the pacing or my enjoyment of the book. If you want a more fairytale view of the moon, this book is for you!