Ilan Ramon: Israel's Space Hero (Hardcover)

by Barbara Sofer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8–In this clearly written biography, Sofer traces Ramon's childhood in Israel, his experiences as a pilot in the Air Force, his education, and his family life. In 1997 he was asked to join America's space program and fly on the Columbia space shuttle, making him the first Israeli astronaut. The text describes the personal items he chose to take on board, including a drawing by a concentration camp prisoner and a Torah scroll, and details his role in the mission as a payload specialist. Black-and-white photos provide glimpses into Ramon's professional and personal life. The Web sites listed will assist students who want to learn more about NASA or Israel. This biography can be incorporated into social studies and science curriculums and can also be used as an example of a hero in character-building theme units. Tanya Stone's Ilan Ramon (Millbrook, 2003) is geared to an older audience.–Sandra Kitain, Abrams Hebrew Academy, Yardley, PA
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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Kar-Ben Publishing (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580131158
• ISBN-13: 978-1580131155
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,209,923 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, October 7, 2006

By	Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a wonderful written and pictorial biography, a great lesson for children, and a memorial for an international Israeli hero.

Ramon took his Hebrew surname from a gorgeous crater near his childhood home in Beersheva, where he attended school with the niece of a Holocaust victim, Petr Ginz, whose drawing of a moonscape he carried aboard the fateful last slight of the space shuttle Columbia.

Ilan also took with him into space a miniature Torah, with which Prof. Joachim Joseph secretly became Bar Mitzvah while imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen.

Miraculously, although the Columbia blew apart on reentry to the Earth's atmosphere on February 1, 2003 Ilan Ramon's Israeli Air Force flag was recovered, along with his body, which was buried at Moshav Nahalal in Israel, on Feb. 12, 2003.

May Ilan Ramon always send blessings to his people, and the world, from a distant star--and from the asteroid commemorating his life, from between Mars and Jupiter.

--Alyssa A. Lappen