You Are the First Kid on Mars [Hardcover]

Patrick O'Brien (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2009 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

As we look back to the beginnings of the space race, 2009 is also the year for looking forward to humankind?s next step toward the stars.

In the spirit of books that once imagined colonies on the moon, Patrick O?Brien has created a unique look at your first trip to Mars. Using the most upto- date designs and theories of what it will take to establish a base on Mars, you are off on an incredible journey, over 35 million miles to the red planet. Filled with details, and vividly brought to life, this is an adventure that you are never going to forget.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-6–What would it be like to travel to Mars, explore the red planet, and return to Earth? O'Brien has created a realistic account of such a journey with informative text and polished digital art that sparks the imagination. Adults take a backseat in this adventure, as the narrator speaks directly to readers about what they could expect to see and do. Rich illustrations depict a young boy as the traveler, space vehicles, and rusty red landscapes with depth and detail. Following a four-month trip on a Nuclear Thermal Rocket, the boy joins scientists, engineers, and pilots living in a habitat on Mars complete with a greenhouse. As for finding life on Mars, it is explained that microscopic organisms are more likely than little green men. But who needs aliens when you have robots watering the plants and roving the surface? Additional facts are listed at the end of the book.–Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Answering the questions on many kids’ minds when imagining life in space, this book “will tell you what would happen, and what you would do, if you were the first kid on Mars.” Using the second person, O’Brien then takes readers through every step of the four-month trip from Earth to Mars: aboard space elevators, orbital stations, transport rockets, landing modules, and more. These descriptions help give a speculatively scientific feel to the proceedings, full of technology that isn’t that far off. Indeed, by involving the reader directly in the story, O’Brien helps ensure that they won’t even realize they’re learning all sorts of wonderful things about gravity, distance, geology, and life along the way. As strong as the narrative can be, though, it’s really the visuals that will drop the most jaws. The nearly photorealistic scenes of space travel and planetary exploration are a rare example of warm and immediate digital rendering, although admittedly the faces can look a little creepy here and there. But it’s easy to look past that and get lost imagining oneself exploring the pristinely serene scenery of the Red Planet. Until such a thing is possible, this is as close as a child will get—and even in this guise, it’s a pretty neat experience. Grades K-3. --Ian Chipman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (May 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399246347
• ISBN-13: 978-0399246340
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #425,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully illustrated but not completely accurate, December 1, 2009

By 

Tara A. Green (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: You Are the First Kid on Mars (Hardcover)

This book takes a futuristic (but realistic) look at what it might be like for a child to travel to and live on a Martian colony. The story is told from the point of view of a boy of about 10, possibly based on the author's own son, with whom the reader is invited to identify.

The boy, who is the eponymous "first kid on Mars", first travels to a space station via a space elevator, and then takes the long voyage to a Martian colony. The author goes into plenty of detail about what this journey, and life on the colony, might be like for a child. There is also an illustrated appendix of a couple of pages including some facts about the planet Mars.

My main complaint with this book is that it contains a couple of glaring scientific errors. There are two places in the book where the author repeats the widely believed but false claim that Mars is the next closest planet to the Earth. (The correct answer is Venus, which comes as close as 26 million miles to the Earth, compared to Mars's 35 million miles.) The book also claims that the reason that one would float in a space station is that "there is no gravity in space", which is not true. The correct explanation is that the space station is in orbit around the earth, which is possible precisely because there is gravity in space.

Despite these errors, I found that a very positive feature of the book was the beautifully painted illustrations. One I particularly liked was the illustration of the boy's quarters on the ship: he has a model of the rocket from the Tintin adventures "Destination Moon" and "Explorers on the Moon", which may have partially inspired this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting Review: YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS, November 23, 2009

By 

Enchanting Reviews "Lisa" - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Are the First Kid on Mars (Hardcover)

YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS
PATRICK O'BRIEN
Children's Sci-Fi Futuristic
Putnam

Rating: 4.5 Enchantments

YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS is a wonderfully detailed and imaginative look at what life would be like if you were literally the first kid on Mars. Filled with great digital illustrations that make the story come to life, this a perfect read for boys and anyone is interested in space and what life exploring another planet might be like.

One of the most unusual children's books I've read, YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS is also one I really enjoyed reading. Filled with fun facts about Mars, like how long the actual journey to the red planet takes and what life might be like on the space station for the months long trek there. YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS will no doubt even grab the most reluctant reader's attention with its great imagery.

Patrick O'Brien has written and illustrated non-fiction books for children as well as fun adventures such as Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery. His previous factual books have been historic and prehistoric subjects--this is his first look into the future. O'Brien lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and son.
Visit him online at [...]

Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
November 2009

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an amazing, futuristic peek at what it might be like to actually head to Mars! Are you ready to board this rocket?, September 18, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: You Are the First Kid on Mars (Hardcover)

Sometimes when you look up into the star-studded sky at night you might see a little red dot. What you probably are gazing at is the planet Mars. If you're an adventurous kid you'd probably love to be the first one to step foot on "the red planet," but what would it be like? It's a cold place that is about "80 degrees below zero Fahrenheit," dust devils swarm around its surface, the air is thin . . . still interested? Of course you are! You'll need to get your space suit on and head over to the space elevator. The elevator car is going to take you all the way up to the space station where you begin your journey.

You're going to open a hatch and let yourself float into the station. The rocket you'll be boarding to head to Mars is called a "Nuclear Thermal Rocket." Once on board you'll be whirring through space at an amazing "75,000 miles per hour" toward your destination. Even at that speed you'll be traveling for four months. Once you arrive you'll have to dock with another space station that "stays in orbit above Mars." You'll be taking the Mars Lander down to the surface of the planet, but it will be a hair-raising ride because you'll "feel the ship shaking and jerking, and you [will] see flames shooting past the window." Do you really want to be the first kid on Mars?

This is an amazing, futuristic peek at what it might be like to actually head to Mars. The text incorporates many facts about Mars as we know them today. I liked the way the author melded fact with fantasy making this book seem totally plausible. If you remember the exploits of Tom Swift and his space exploration, just think "new" and you'll get the picture except this is much better. The phenomenal illustrations are digital and are stunningly realistic. If you've been snapping up many of the Apollo books coming out lately, you just might want to add this gem to your collection!