A beautiful story of a young girl's thoughts about the miracle of space travel and the navigation of the spaceship The Eagle.
It was July 20, 1969 and Mae is very much inspired by Neil Armstrong and his first step on the moon. She and neighborhood children pulled together odds and ends and built a make-believe space ship.

This book brought back memories watching this occurrence at the local drug store. The moment was somber. It was quiet as we were fixed to the tv and the miracle of space travel.

President John F. Kennedy vowed to make America the first in making space travel possible. Sadly, he was not alive to see Neil Armstrong place his foot on the surface of the moon. Neither was he alive to hear the voice of Walter Cronkite emotionally stating

"Neil Armstrong, thirty-eight year old American, standing on the surface of the moon, on this July twentieth, nineteen hundred and sixty-nine."

And then, 600 million people were transfixed to the tv, hearing the voice of Neil Armstrong saying:

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

There would be other journeys into space, one with tragic consequences during the launch, another when men died inside the spaceship during routine testing. The others though, were miraculously launched successfully and American citizens were glued to their TV to watch additional flights of success.

But, none could take the place of Neil Armstrong's voice as his boot made contact with the surface of the moon. ( )

This is a very good book about the moon landing. Told lyrically, it illuminates the experience of watching the moon landing in 1969. It captures not only the excitement, but also the division that existed over the value of the moon landing. The grandfather in the story offers a alternate perspective on the issue. It's well done. ( )

This book was a winner in terms of hopes and dreams. It is about a little black girl who grows up in a town named Star. Her family and her witness the first walk on the moon by the United States. She has a close relationship with her "Gramps", who let's her know that basically whatever she does, do not let anything or anyone kill your dreams. ( )

When I read this book, I liked the writing and characters that appeared to be essential contents of the story. First, the writing were short passages that were organized in patterns in each page. In several passages, the writing was indented into one word. Throughout the story, the author provided some descriptive settings to reflect on what exactly happens. For instance, the writing displayed some environmental noises, like the sounds of the crickets at night. I think the short passages are quite simple enough for the readers to engage in the story. My second interest of the book was the character. I liked the main character named Mae, who is very knowledgeable. For example, Mae understood the approximate distance between the Earth and the moon. I find that Dianna Hutts Aston's story was an inspiration of reflecting to the historical event when the first human beings walked on the moon. As the central idea of the story, I learned that people can take a large step to many opportunities that mankind has in store for them. ( )

During the backdrop in 1969 of the Apollo 11 landing and our first steps on the moon comes a very heartfelt tale told from an african american young girl's eyes in our american pastoral family tradition. Filled with beautiful heartfelt reflections of family farm life and the wonders and hopes of mankind's future in space, one can relate to the ambitious fortitude of young african americans everywhere and how hopes and dreams of space exploration and what it means to be part of mankind carries universal themes. So many young readers in our culture of New Orleans would be inspired by this hope and dreams abound as you reflect on what unifies our dreams of family. ( )