The best way to judge a children's book is to read it to a child. So I read this to my 4 year old son. There were lots of full pages with colorful illustrations. Not every page had them though and I found that he lost interest when there weren't pictures.
The story begins with Jamuel having a dream about aliens and his friends playing on the moon. My son and I found this to be the funniest and most creative part of the story. We enjoyed the crazy imagination and aliens.
The next chunk of the book is all about Jamuel and his mother driving to around picking up his friends of various ethnicities and family structures. I liked that there were so many different children included but a lot of time was spent meeting parents and saying the same goodbyes. It was wonderful to see pictures of the different cultures. However my son did lose interest during this part.
When they all get to the museum there is a lot of learning about the moon and how it effects the earth. It was interesting and easy to understand. But in the middle of this the author throws in some facts about the first African American astronauts. It was important information but it felt oddly placed. Almost like an afterthought. The story in about these kids from different backgrounds and I would have liked more time spent on the astronauts.
Over all I found the story educational and many different kids will be able to find themselves represented in the book. It always good when a kid can connect with a character. Not just the color of their skin but their different family types as well. I read this to my 4 year old son and he did lose interest a few times. I would recommend this to a slightly older child maybe 5+years
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