ReadItDaddy's First Spacetastic Book of the Week - Week Ending 19th July 2019: "When We Walked on the Moon" by David Long and Sam Kalda (Wide Eyed Editions)

Wrapping up our special celebratory week of amazing books about space exploration, and in particular about our journey to the Moon 50 years ago, we wanted to pick a Book of the Week that really felt brilliantly presented, accessible, easy to understand for younger kids - but also had a wide age appeal too.

Tough order, but of course Wide Eyed Editions stepped up to the mark with aplomb, and "When We Walked on the Moon" by David Long and Sam Kalda absolutely encapsulates what it must have felt like back in 1969 as the world held its breath, and Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy.

The book opens with details about how the space race began, as the United States of America and the Union Soviet Socialist Republic put their scientists to work, building rockets and spacecraft so that humans could take their first zero-gravity steps into space.

There were triumphs along the way, and of course disasters, but the book excels at one thing - showing just how amazing our achievements are, managing to land a man on the moon a mere few decades after we achieved powered flight for the first time.

Everyone gathered at Cape Canaveral (later Kennedy) as Apollo 11 thundered into space. 

The book almost takes a 'storified' approach of presenting the amazing facts and information within, with lots of quotes from astronauts who took part in NASA's space program, but also plenty of information and quotes from the Russian side of the space race too, showing just how science unified two nations whose primary goal was to stretch beyond their home planet and out into the inky blackness.

Giant steps are what you take, walking on the moon

Concentrating on the parts of the book that deal with the first man on the moon, and subsequent Apollo missions, the information is detailed and well written - and Sam's illustrations are absolutely perfect, atmospheric and designed to draw young readers in with plenty of detail and interest.

Apollo 17, the last mission to the moon. Will we return one day? 

This is an absolutely essential book for young space fans, with a ton of interest for older readers too. Well deserved of top honours in our fantastic Space Book Week!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A truly brilliantly produced and presented book to mark the 50th Anniversary of our first steps on the moon, with tons of additional information drawing the reader into the excitement the world was gripped by half a century ago.

"When We Walked on the Moon" by David Long and Sam Kalda is out now, published by Wide Eyed Editions (Kindly supplied for review).