I Love You, Michael Collins
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4.6 • 11 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Amazon Editors' Pick Best Books of June 2017
Semifinalist: GoodReads Choice Awards 2017 Best Middle Grade and Children's Book
National Council for Social Studies/Children's Book Council Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2018
The Planetary Society Recommended Space Books for Kids of All Ages 2017
The National Science and Engineering Council of Canada list of books for Science Literacy Week 2018
2018-2019 Keystone to Reading Elementary Book Award Intermediate Grade list
2018-19 Maine Student Book Award Reading List
2018-2019 Florida Sunshine State Young Readers Award List, Grades 3-5
It’s 1969 and the country is gearing up for what looks to be the most exciting moment in U.S. history: men landing on the moon. Ten-year-old Mamie’s class is given an assignment to write letters to the astronauts. All the girls write to Neil Armstrong ("So cute!") and all the boys write to Buzz Aldrin ("So cool!"). Only Mamie writes to Michael Collins, the astronaut who will come so close but never achieve everyone else's dream of walking on the moon, because he is the one who must stay with the ship. After school ends, Mamie keeps writing to Michael Collins, taking comfort in telling someone about what's going on with her family as, one by one, they leave the house thinking that someone else is taking care of her—until she is all alone except for her cat and her best friend, Buster. And as the date of the launch nears, Mamie can't help but wonder: Does no one stay with the ship anymore? With I LOVE YOU, MICHAEL COLLINS, Lauren Baratz-Logsted has created a heartwarming story about family and being true to yourself.
A Margaret Ferguson Book
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this epistolary novel set during the charged weeks preceding the Apollo 11 launch, a class assignment prompts 10-year-old Mamie Anderson to write letters to astronaut Michael Collins, while her classmates favor Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, who will actually set foot on the moon. Though some of the letters can be forced ("Do you know what an Erector set is, Michael Collins?"), they are an effective way for Mamie to confide in the astronaut about the escalating tensions between her parents; the absence of her oldest sister, Eleanor (who recently moved out); and 16-year-old sister Bess's fixation on her boyfriend. Against the highly gendered backdrop of 1969 (all the girls want to marry astronauts, while the boys want to become them), Mamie's friendship with her neighbor Buster is particularly moving. Mamie and Buster share a fixation on the space race, and Buster remains loyal and constant even as Mamie's parents' conflict erupts. Mamie's isolation at home echoes Collins's solitude in orbit a bit too neatly, but her bravery and loyalty are memorable. Ages 8 12.
