One Village, One Mission: READ

Spaced-Out Fun

Visit one of these space Web sites for fun, learning, or exploration.

Amazing Space

Astronomy for Kids

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Adler Planetarium and iRead

Scrapblog

Do you have a favorite Web site? Share it with us!

Have fun in space!

Take Me to Your Reader

Listed below are space and science fiction picture books and books for school-aged and teen readers, recommended by the Lincolnwood Library.

Picture Books

Hedgie Blasts Off!
Brett, Jan
When the spectacular, sparkling explosions at a popular tourist sight slow down, Hedgie the hedgehog is the only one capable of flying to tiny planet Mikkop to see what is wrong.

If You Decide to Go to the Moon
McNulty, Faith
"If you decide to go to the moon," writes Faith McNulty, "read this book first." It will tell you how to get there and what to do after you land. The most important part tells you how to get home. Written in the second person, the text allows the reader to participate in every aspect of the journey, from packing ("don't forget your diary and plenty of food") to liftoff ("at first you'll feel heavy; don't worry") to traveling thorugh space (where "the moon glows like a pearl in the black, black sky"). The reader lands at the Sea of Tranquility, the site of the first lunar landing.

The Rooftop Rocket Party
Chambers, Roland.
Chambers' first picture book is a subversive fantasy that celebrates the power of imagination. Young Finn is rocket crazy, so he is delighted to visit New York City and stay with the famous Dr. Gass, a rocket scientist. He is frustrated, though, when he can't find any rockets and when Dr. Gass debunks some of his favorite beliefs--the Man on the Moon, for example. But when a magical creature visits Finn's bedroom window and invites him to a party, Finn realizes that Dr. Gass' mathematical certainties aren't always correct, especially when, the following evening, Finn and the Night Thing rocket to a wild birthday party on the moon.

For School-Aged Readers

Akiko in the Castle of Alia Rellapor
Crilley, Mark
Akiko has finally made it inside the castle, but the hard part still lies ahead as she must free Prince Froptoppit without alerting the guards. (Note: This book is part of the Akiko series.)

Aliens Ate My Homework
Coville, Bruce (prolific writer of many funny books about aliens and space)
Rod is surprised when a miniature spaceship lands in his school science project and reveals five tiny aliens, who ask his help in apprehending an interstellar criminal.

Lost in Cyberspace
Peck, Richard
Josh Lewis, a sixth grader at the elite Huckley School, isn't fazed when his best friend Aaron announces that he can time travel with his computer. But when Aaron actually micro-processes himself into cyberspace, the duo must deal with unexpected visitors from the past—and find out more about Huckley's history than they ever wanted to know.

Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon
Thimmesh, Catherine
Culling NASA transcripts, national archives, and stunning NASA photos from "Apollo 11," the author captures the dedication, ingenuity, and perseverance of the people behind the scenes who worked to make the first moon landing possible.

Whales on Stilts
Anderson, M. T.
Racing against the clock, shy middle-school student Lily and her best friends, Katie and Jasper, must foil the plot of her father's conniving boss to conquer the world using an army of whales.

For Teen Readers

Dune
Herbert, Frank
Opposing forces struggle for control of the universe when the archenemy of the cosmic emperor is banished to a barren world where the inhabitants fight for water.

Feed
Anderson, M. T.
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

Things Not Seen
Clements, Andrew
Bobby Phillips is an average fifteen-year-old-boy; until the morning he wakes up and can't see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming—Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby's new condition; even his dad the physicist can't figure it out.

Tomorrowland
A collection of ten stories about the future, by such authors as Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, and Jon Scieszka.

The Transall Saga
Paulsen, Gary
Find yourself in another world in The Transall Saga, the latest adventure from Gary Paulsen. Mark's solo camping trip to the desert begins as any other camping trip, until a mysterious beam of light appears. The trip turns into a terrifying and thrilling adventure when the light beam transports Mark into another time, and what appears to be another planet!

One Village, One Mission: Read

One Village, One Mission: READ, To the Library and Beyond ...

The Lincolnwood Library recently received news from a galaxy far, far away of three planets in peril. Planets DREA, RADE, and ARED are all inhabited by non-readers. That's right, the occupants of all three planets don't know about the fun, adventure, and power of reading.

The library is on a mission to inform these three planets of how great reading is—and we need the help of Lincolnwood's youth to do it. The plan? Through this year's summer reading program, titled One Village, One Mission: READ, To the Library and Beyond..., we're asking the youth of Lincolnwood to read as many minutes as they can, to power a journey to the planets and transform them into worlds of readers. Keep in mind: it takes a space shuttle 90 minutes to orbit the Earth; it took the Apollo 11 rocket 4,320 minutes to reach the Moon; it took the Voyager space craft 1,655,504 minutes to go from the Earth to Saturn. Will Lincolnwood youth read enough minutes to travel to planets? We're counting on it!

At the end of the summer when the mission is accomplished, children and their families will be invited to a dedication ceremony honoring their commitment to transforming the planets into worlds of readers. At the ceremony, children will be able to plant flags on the planets, to claim them as territory of the READ Federation.