Reaching For the Moon: 8 Chapter and Middle Grade Books to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing

Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson, by Katherine Johnson
I’m so excited about this memoir by NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who helped launch Apollo 11. You might remember Johnson from the book and Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures? Johnson was an incredible math whiz beginning when she was a little girl. She started going to school at age 4 so she could help her brother with math, and then she skipped several grades. (She graduated college when she was 18!) This was in the early 1950s, during a time of cruel and heartless racism and sexism. As an African American girl, Katherine faced many challenges, but nothing stopped her. Katherine joined the organization that would become NASA, where she worked on NASA’s important projects, including the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first men on the moon. This is such an incredible and captivating story.

Space: The Definitive Visual Catalog of the Universe, by Sean Callery and Miranda Smith
Thanks to the stunning color photos from NASA and the International Space Station, this book takes you to our solar system. You’ll digest facts about the planets and stars, as well as recently discovered galaxies. I love the fact that the foreward was written by Dr. Rosaly Lopes, Senior Research Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech. Lopes says this book takes you on “a journey through space as our spinning planet hurtles in giant circles around the Sun. We are also on a journey of discovery about the Universe, and this book—your paper spaceship—is part of it.”

Lost in Outer Space: The Incredible Journey of Apollo 13 (LOST #2), by Tod Olson
This is second book in the Lost series, about the true story of the doomed Apollo 13 moon mission that nearly ended in disaster. On April 13, 1970, an explosion ripped through Jim Lovell’s spacecraft and it hurtled toward the moon at three times the speed of sound, losing power and leaking oxygen into space. Lovell and his crew were two days away from their dream of walking on the moon. Now they weren’t sure if they’d survive in this crippled spaceship, 200,000 miles from home. The best part of this story is hearing it from Barbara Lovell Harrison, Jim’s daughter, who was 16 years old at the time.

Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight, by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm
This gorgeous historical graphic novel tells the story of the moon and the men who went there first. Fetter-Vorm takes readers back to the Babylonians and the Cold War, through the darkness of the Nazis, to the journey of these astronauts on a summer night in 1969. 

Destination Moon: The Remarkable and Improbable Voyage of Apollo 11, by Richard Maurer
Another nonfiction narrative story, this one looks at the history of NASA’s Apollo program from Earth orbital missions to lunar landings. At one point, Apollo employed almost half a million people, many working seven days a week and each determined this would be a success. This story includes short bios of each key person prior to their involvement in NASA. There are lots of cool photos and illustrations as well as a timeline.

Satellite Space Mission (The Magic School Bus Rides Again Series), by Annmarie Anderson
My 2nd grader loves all the Branches books by Scholastic and she’s a huge Magic School Bus fan! In this story, Keesha is determined to get accepted into Space Camp, the launching pad to becoming an astronaut. Miss Frizzle takes the class on a field-trip to outer space and Keesha decides to take a selfie to include in her application form. That will surely get her a spot, right? There’s a great Q & A at the end of the book with a Glossary, as well as “Ask Professor Frizzle,” which includes questions such as, “What’s with all of the trash in space? Why can’t we keep space clean?”

Luciana, by Erin Teagan
“The first thing I saw was the rocket. From a mile away, it appeared to be pointed straight up into the sky. Dad stopped at the traffic light and slurped his coffee. I bumped my head on the window when we started moving again.” This is how Luciana begins. It is a Space Camp story for young readers about Luciana, American Girl’s 2018 “Girl of the Year.” Luciana is over the moon because she has already been picked to attend camp! But when she finds out that she’s also supposed to lead her team in a robot challenge, she struggles to figure out what to do. If she’s ever going to make it to Mars, she’s got to be someone her crew can depend on, no matter what.

Mouse in Space (Geronimo Stilton Series #52), by Geronimo Stilton
New Mouse City is in danger in this colorful chapter book about an evil professor threatening everyone with all his terrible inventions. The authorities call upon Geronimo Stilton to thwart his plans by traveling on a top secret mission—to outer space! But is Geronimo prepared to go? This is a fun story for younger readers in your family. I love the fact that the writer behind the character Geronimo Stilton is actually Elisabetta Dami, an Italian children’s book author.