An Out of This World Vacation!

If You Decide to Go to the Moon 

Written by: Faith McNulty     Illustrated by: Steven Kellogg

Published by: Scholastic Press, 2005

Science Fiction

Have you ever thought about taking a trip to the moon? This book will tell you everything you need to know if you were to decided to go to the moon. From blast off to landing, If you Decide to Go to the Moon is packed full of helpful information that any astronaut would need to know such as the things they should pack, the way space will look and feel, and all of the surprising things you will experience once you are in space and on the moon! Get ready to grab your space suit after reading this fantastic journey!

The Illustrations of this book are done using watercolor. There is a great variation of style however, when it comes to the pictures of life on Earth and once the rocket makes it to space. The pictures on Earth show lots of color and scences that are meant to look cartoonish while the pictures of space and the moon are created to look as realistic as possible. The illustrator puts more realistic detail into these pictures so that the reader can get a better idea of what the moon and space would actually look like. 

To use this book in the classroom, I would read the story to a sixth grade class to introduce space science. We could first read this story, then do some research on the moon. The students could research the moon and write their own short narrative about what they would do if they decided to go to the moon. This book could also lead to a STEM lesson where students could use materials to construct their own rocket ships!