Roach, Mary. Packing for Mars for Kids. Non-fiction. Norton, 04/2022. 144pp. $16.95. 978-1-324-01937-4. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 4-7.
What is the greatest challenge for a rocket scientist? It turns out it is the human body. In seven chapters, crackling with curiosity and packed with surprising information, Roach opens our eyes to the many startling, impressive, and odiferous challenges space travel poses to astronauts and the engineers tasked with getting them off the earth. Packed with facts and unforgettable anecdotes, the slim volume is also beautifully organized and tightly written and covers topics like gravity, what it’s like to fly, eliminations of all kinds, eating, hygiene, and the kinds of roommate issues that result from sharing very small rooms. An already-fascinating text is enlivened by lots of photographs, interviews, and startling transcripts of what Mission Control really says to astronauts. Happily, the focus is not entirely on bodily discomfort, as Roach elegantly frames the exploration of human space travel by beginning with the Monglofiers’ first balloon ascent and ending with Benjamin Franklin’s telling quote on that escape from gravity—an assessment as apt for travel to Mars as it was for our first attempt to rise above the soil. Strangely, no sources or bibliography occur in this version of an adult book modified for children, though much of the text is made up of directly-attributed quotes, transcripts, and personal experiences.
Melissa McAvoy, Retired