One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong [Hardcover]

Don Brown (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

As a young boy, Neil Armstrong had a recurring dream in which he held his breath and floated high above the people, houses, and cars. He spent his free time reading stacks of flying magazines, building model airplanes, and staring through the homemade telescope mounted on the roof of his neighbor's garage. As a teenager, Neil became obsessed with the idea of flight, working odd jobs to pay for flying lessons at a nearby airport. He earned his student pilot's license on his sixteenth birthday. But who was to know that this shy boy, who also loved books and music, would become the first person to set foot on the moon, on July 20, 1969. Here is the inspiring story of one boy's dream - a dream of flying that landed him more than 200,000 miles away in space, gazing upon the awesome sight of a tiny earth hanging suspended in a perfectly black sky. On the thirtieth anniversary of the moon landing, Don Brown's expressive story reveals the achievement of this American legend, Neil Armstrong, re

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Alice Ramsey's Grand Adventure may wish that Brown had likewise dedicated this picture book to the singular ride that made history for his subject. Instead, the author's informal chronicle of astronaut Armstrong's life focuses primarily on his childhood, then skips ahead to his milestone flight in the final spreads. The book opens in 1932, when two-year-old Neil, perched on his father's shoulders, watches airplanes race. Readers next see him four years later, riding in a plane for the first time, an experience that inspires a "magical dream" in which he "held his breath and hovered above the ground." Young Neil makes model airplanes, reads Air Travel magazine, peers at the moon through a neighbor's telescope and eventually begins flying lessons. But Armstrong's training to become an astronaut and his career leading up to the 1969 flight to the moon get less emphasis. And the conclusion is a bit ethereal (after he stepped onto the moon, he "became a hero to millions of people. But inside him was the memory of an ordinary boy.... A boy who loved books and music....A boy who dreamed of hanging in the air suspended only by a trapped breath." Similarly sketchy, Brown's airy, pen-and-ink and watercolor art does little to get this spotty biography off the ground. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-In this picture-book portrait, Brown reveals that Armstrong loved flying airplanes long before he ever considered going into space. At the age of six, he rode with his father in a passenger plane that had 12 wicker seats and a loud sputtering engine. This first ride hooked him on aeronautics and from that time on he collected airplane magazines, made airplane models, and at age 16 got his pilot's license. While other titles focus on the events leading up to Armstrong's historic lunar landing, this book lovingly depicts an industrious small-town boy who mowed lawns and swept floors in order to finance his flying lessons. Armstrong's moments in space are all the more incredible when juxtaposed against the excitement airplanes still aroused during his 1930's childhood. This book gives the essence of his accomplishments rather than the details. One page that summarizes Armstrong's career advances from student pilot to fighter pilot to test pilot to astronaut shows just how much the world can change in one person's lifetime. Brown's watercolor illustrations are as appealing as the boyish grin the astronaut displays in almost every picture. A lyrical introduction to an American hero.
Jackie Hechtkopf, Talent House School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395884012
• ISBN-13: 978-0395884010
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Inventions & Inventors
  • #39 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Astronomy & Space > Aeronautics & Space
  • #97 in Books > Children's Books > Biographies > Science & Technology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "One Giant Step" is fantastic!, February 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong (Hardcover)

Don Brown's book "One Giant Step: the Story of Neil Armstrong" is great. It approaches the story of America's most famous astronaut from a truly unique perspective. Even as an adult I found it compelling.The illustrations are colorful, lively watercolors with distinctive style and charm. Few have mastered the art writing children's books. Fewer have mastered the art of illustrating them. Don Brown has done both.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don Brown's Best One Yet!, June 21, 2000

By 

Frank Murphy - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong (Hardcover)

This biography is without a doubt Brown's best picturebook biography to date. He really has written an engaging biography of Armstrong. My second graders went back to this book time and again after I read it aloud! One of my students () used it as a primary source for her biography on Neil Armstrong...and she wrote a great bio too! A great addition to a classroom library or school library biography section!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful and inspiring, September 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: One Giant Leap: The Story of Neil Armstrong (Hardcover)

No one is telling history to young children quite the way that Don Brown is -- clearly, factually, and without the unnecessary treacle and syrup. History is beguiling enough as it is. Brown's admiration for his subject comes through in his direct and Hemingway-esque style. Armstrong was a hero who started as a boy with a dream, literally. My children were smitten, as was I. THIS BOOK IS A NO-FAIL GIFT for boys and girls. We hope to hear, and see, more from this fantastic author-illustrator. He deserves more recognition, and I am sure that will come soon.