THE LITTLE SPACECRAFT THAT COULD

Sterling Children's Books, 2021

I can't resist a short post about this wonderful nonfiction picture book for many reasons, but I will keep them short. THE LITTLE SPACECRAFT THAT COULD: New Horizon's Amazing Journey to Pluto and Arrokoth is written by Joyce Lapin and illustrated by Simona Ceccarelli. 

First, the very apt title is a takeoff on a lifetime favorite book of mine (and likely yours) THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD, Next, NEW HORIZON is a project devoted to learning more about that distant little planet-not-a-planet-dwarf-planet-whatever, PLUTO. (Learn more about the actual NASA program HERE.)

 I'll always root for the underdog, so that "little engine" NEW HORIZON spacecraft and Pluto and its neighbor Arrokoth are defnitely the underdogs of space study. Finally, and here's perhaps my favorite reason for featuring this title, I learned a cool new term for a category of picture book that I love- pseudo-narrative informative fiction. In this case, the actual NEW HORIZON spacecraft, about the size of a grand piano, bcecomes a lightly- personfied narrator of its own journey, from planning to launch to distant adventures. Loaded with valuable and engaging illustrations, labeled diagrams, and photographic inserts and sidebars, there is nonfiction galore. Yet the technique of turning an unmanned spacecraft into this upbeat and determined character makes the entire project come to life on the page. 

There you have it. Three plusses and no underdogs in this recommendation!