The Sea of Tranquility

by Mark Haddon (Author), Christian Birmingham (Author)

• Used

  Illustrated
  1997

  $3.39

  The excitement of the first moon landing is captured through the eyes of a child, and through the words of the adult that child became.

  A British author recounts his boyhood fascination with the moon and with the rocketships and missions that preceded the first lunar landing. Haddon's text lyrically transports readers to that dramatic moment in 1969 when, in living rooms around the world, people saw men roving the moon's lunar landscape. From the boy's dream of rocketing across the cold, black miles and landing on crumbly rock to the actual event of the two American astronauts bouncing through the dust in the Sea of Tranquility, the author's measured tones weaves the aspirations of the heart with history. Full-bleed illustrations, softly textured as if seen through the scrim of time, interpret the text with judicious sentiment. For example, a pretend flag - the boy's blue-striped shirt with a red pocket - sounds a childlike echo when it appears in the boy's dream, planted on the moon beside the Stars and Stripes. Nostalgia, sweet and convincing, shines through the restraint of both text and illustrations. (Ages 4-12)

• Used

  Paperback
  2020

  $3.20

  Leading up to the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing, the excitement of this momentous event is captured through the eyes of a child in this glorious picture book, reformatted with a new cover design. Mark Haddon is the prize-winning, highly-acclaimed author of the best-selling novel 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time'. Years ago there was a little boy who dreamed of rocketing to the moon, of landing on the crumbly rock and walking across the Sea of Tranquility. He borrowed library books and read how astronauts had orbited the earth and walked in space. And every night he hoped that they would find a way to land on the moon and walk where he had dreamed of walking. And eventually, one cloudless night, they did...