The Moon
David Hawcock, illustrated by Adam Linley
NuiNui

The first manned Moon landing was over fifty years back when NASA’s Apollo 11 mission took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon, with Neil Armstrong being the very first human to walk on the Moon’s surface and adults will perhaps recall his “That’s one small step for (a)man, one giant leap for mankind” speech.” Now NASA’s Artemis Ⅱ Moon Mission has brought the moon very much into focus again and this timely pop-up offers an accessible, fun and informative way to educate young children about our nearest celestial body and Earth’s only natural satellite.

The aforementioned Apollo 11 landing is the subject of one of this book’s ten spreads – Walking on the Moon from which we learn that a dozen NASA astronauts from Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972 have walked on the Moon. (This spread is also the cover illustration, sans the flag jointly planted on the surface by Armstrong and Aldrin.)
Before that though is a spread entitled Man on the Moon whereon we have a pop-out of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module – Eagle.

I’ve rather jumped ahead of the book’s sequence, which begins with a look at the Solar System and youngsters will learn that there are in fact many moons therein. Next, following an introductory paragraph, The Moon spread explains that the Moon goes around the Earth and is one aspect of the movement (planet motion) helping to create night, day and the seasons. We also see diagram of the layers inside the Moon.

I won’t mention details of the other six spreads: (below is the illustration for one of them)

rather, I suggest that you get hold of a copy of this fascinating book and share it with young children – in small groups or individually. It’s sturdily built so should stand up to handling in a Foundation stage/KS1 classroom.