Floating Home - Softcover

Getz, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805065806 ISBN 13: 9780805065800

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2000

Synopsis

Picture book fiction that accurately depicts the launch of the Space Shuttle--from the eyes of an eight-year-old astronaut!

Ever wonder what it would be like to be an astronaut? In Floating Home, eight-year-old Maxine finds out when she becomes the world's first child astronaut. Written in David Getz's familiar compact and engaging style, Floating Home gives kids a chance to journey to space and see the earth in a different light. Michael Rex's illustrations complement the text as they aptly depict the Space Shuttle and all of Maxine's gear. The flair and wit of Michael Rex's art offsets David Getz's deadpan tone to make a child-appealing combination.

About this title

About the Author

David Getz is the author of Frozen Man, Life On Mars, and Frozen Girl. He is an elementary-school science teacher and staff trainer in New York City.

Michael Rex is the author and illustrator of The Painting Gorilla, My Fire Engine, and My Race Car. Mr. Rex lives in Brooklyn, New York.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a unique slant on a typical homework assignment, Getz (Frozen Man, 1994, etc.) and newcomer Rex send a girl to incredible heights for her art project--outer space. When Maxine is instructed to look at her home in a new way, she leaves school and keeps on walking. Inside the Kennedy Space Center, she suits up; her outfit includes a diaper, two kinds of underwear (one to keep her warm, the other to cool her down), and a large orange pressure suit, all of which are wittily captured in Rex's acrylic illustrations. Feeling like a 100-pound duck in a diaper, Maxine takes a fantastic journey into space, where fun facts about weightlessness and rockets are interwoven into her personal account of take-off (the noise is like ``a thousand thousand lions roaring! Like the heart of an immense raging fire. Roar!''), flying upside down at dizzying speeds, witnessing hurricanes, shooting stars, and the earth from space, where ``somebody had forgotten to draw the lines.'' What begins as a contrivance catapults readers into an animated, aeronautical adventure and an entertaining look at the science of space travel; it ends as a visionary paradigm for a peaceful planet. (Picture book. 5-9) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0805065806
• ISBN 13: 9780805065800
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Rex Michael