Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon

Gr 2–6—Uniquely similar in artistic design and writing style to Kuhlmann's Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse, this title relates the story of another clever mouse's fascination with the moon, which, his telescope shows him, is actually "a giant ball of stone"—not the big ball of cheese that his friends say it is. An invitation to visit the Smithsonian Museum and its room full of mouse-size flying machines and some encouraging advice from an old gray mouse docent ("Study human knowledge") fill the tiny inventor with the determination to pursue his dream of a moonshot adventure that even a catastrophic setback cannot subdue. But police detectives are on the mouse's trail; locating parts for his rocket and space capsule becomes a dangerous game. As the small rodent pulls on his spacesuit, the police arrive with their sniffing dogs, just in time to witness the successful blastoff up the chimney and into orbit. Kuhlmann's exquisitely rendered realistic illustrations—most in watercolor and pencil—are filled with minute details; annotated architectural renderings show each phase of the mouse's inventions, then pieces and parts, in photographic detail as various components are assembled. "A Short History of Space Travel" includes drawn and painted "photos" and bits of information about scientists, animals, and astronauts who were key figures in U.S. and Soviet space programs leading to the first moon landing.