Ms. Suzy Reads | In Outer Space?

Ever since the movie Gravity came out, I have had a rather crazy idea: I'd like to travel to space. I know, I know....only really, really rich people will be able to afford space travel when (and if) it becomes available for non-astronauts. But I can't help thinking how darn cool it would be.

 

So I thought I should do a little research, and voila, I found the perfect book: You Can't Ride a Bicycle to the Moon by Harriet Ziefert with pictures by Amanda Haley. It's a quick read packed with a whole lot of interesting information about the moon AND travel to the moon.

 

Here's just a little of what I learned:

 

To travel to the moon from earth, it will take 8 hours and 35 minutes by rocket. (Too bad I can't travel by the speed of light! That would only take 1.52 seconds!)

 

Astronauts have to wear special suits when they're visiting the moon. In fact, I got to see real spacesuits worn by Apollo astronauts when I visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. But here's a little gross tidbit I read in the book: spacesuits can be made with built-in toilets.

 

What? Yes, that's what I said. I'm starting to rethink my dream of space travel.

 

Another interesting fact I learned from this book involves food. Now we've all been told by our parents -- at some point when we were sitting down to the family dinner -- that we should not play with our food. Right?

 

Well I learned in this book that astronauts play a food game in which one astronaut throws a cookie into the air, and another astronaut, floating by, of course, has to catch the cookie in his or her mouth. I think I would do pretty well at that game.

 

So what do you say? If you had a chance, would you travel to the moon?

 

Here's another question: If you could read just 10 books (t-e-n books) to get a really cool prize, would you do it? Who wouldn't, right? That's all kids have to do for this year's Summer Reading program. And teens, you only have to read 3 books (t-h-r-e-e) and write short reviews to win a great prize. AND, there will be a grand prize drawing at the end of Summer Reading and one person from every library branch will win a FREE Kindle Fire.

 

We've got it going on at the library. So check us out! And check out a book!

 

Until next week, happy reading!