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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
You may not know it, but Michael Collins is an American Hero. When Apollo 11 went to space, he stayed with the ship while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took one small step for man.
It all begins when Mrs. Collins asks her class to write letters to the three brave astronauts. Every boy in Mammie's class wants to become an astronaut when they grow up and all the girls want to marry one (except Mammie.) Mammie decides to write her letter to Michael Collins because no one else decided they would. She continues to write letters throughout the summer explaining how life went from bad to worse. Will the astronauts survive the moon landing and return to Earth? Will Mammie survive a summer that begins with her mother leaves her dad and all the curveballs that come after?
1. I love how the entire story is written in letters. It's exciting to read and contains so many small moment stories.
2. There are so many one-liners that stuck with me throughout the story. I could fill half of my "best line ever" board from this book alone.
3. True friends are worth gold. I was encouraged by a story where the narrator only has one friend. I know I felt that way growing up. It can be lonely. Or you can learn to recognize the luck of having one good friend.
I only wish I had bought more copies for #mocknewbery this year! Sometimes you lose hope and watching a miracle can give you the courage you need to keep moving forward.
It all begins when Mrs. Collins asks her class to write letters to the three brave astronauts. Every boy in Mammie's class wants to become an astronaut when they grow up and all the girls want to marry one (except Mammie.) Mammie decides to write her letter to Michael Collins because no one else decided they would. She continues to write letters throughout the summer explaining how life went from bad to worse. Will the astronauts survive the moon landing and return to Earth? Will Mammie survive a summer that begins with her mother leaves her dad and all the curveballs that come after?
1. I love how the entire story is written in letters. It's exciting to read and contains so many small moment stories.
2. There are so many one-liners that stuck with me throughout the story. I could fill half of my "best line ever" board from this book alone.
3. True friends are worth gold. I was encouraged by a story where the narrator only has one friend. I know I felt that way growing up. It can be lonely. Or you can learn to recognize the luck of having one good friend.
I only wish I had bought more copies for #mocknewbery this year! Sometimes you lose hope and watching a miracle can give you the courage you need to keep moving forward.
On the last day of school, Mamie's sixth grade class is given the assignment to write a letter to one of the three astronaut's going to the moon that summer. Everyone else picks either Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin, but Mamie picks Michael Collins, because to her he is "the best one." Although school is out for the summer, she continues to write him letters, talking about her home life which seems to be falling apart. Her mother is fed up with her father and leaves. Her father goes after her mother to try to get her back, leaving Mamie at home with her less than reliable teenage sister. Thankfully, Mamie's best friend Buster lives next door and is more reliable than anyone else in her life right now. Together they spend the days leading up to the moon landing learning all about the mission, while Mamie also learns a lot about herself and what is going on with her family. Told completely in letters, this is an engaging piece of historical fiction and an excellent slice of life of a middle class family in 1969. Recommended to grades 4 & up, particularly those with an interest in space travel.
This is a really cute book about a girl named Meme and she writes letters too the astronaut Michael Collins. She tells him about her family her best friend. Other things that happen too her over the summer.
Its also about the Aplo Moon landing.
Its also about the Aplo Moon landing.
I wanted to read something to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and here is what I ended up with. It was a sweet book about a young girl named Mamie who spends her summer writing letters to her favorite astronaut, Michael Collins, the oft forgotten member of the Apollo 11 crew. She finds herself relating more and more to his role in this historic mission as she is faced with many challenges in her own life. Mamie learns much about herself along the way especially that it is equally important to have stayed with the ship.
I enjoyed this middle grade novel. It was a series of letters that a young girl wrote to the astronaut, Michael Collins, as he was gearing up to go to the moon. This book made me smile.
My memories of Apollo 11 are so vivid all these years later. I've spent the 50h anniversary year reading histories and listening to podcasts that focused on the first moon landing. When my daughter recommended the book to me, I knew I had to find it somehow. It's one of the best middle-grade books I've read in a long time.
Mamie is one day away from the start of the 1969 summer vacation. She has been handed the final assignment of the year. She is hours away from all the freedom and unstructured play that a late 1960s summer promised; just one assignment stood between her and a summer full of fun with her neighbor and friend, Buster, whose real name we never learn.
The assignment: Write a letter to one of the three Apollo 11 astronauts. All the girls in the class except Mamie picked Neal Armstrong; the boys all chose Buzz Aldrin because he was cool and had a cool name. Mamie was the only one in the class who chose Michael Collins, the sometimes-lonely astronaut whose solitary job was to keep the main module on target. She wrote her letter, and as the summer progressed and the date of the historic launch grew near, she kept writing. These letters to the unsung hero spaceman were Mamie's way of expressing herself--or telling someone, anyone, about the changes going on in her personal world.
This book brought cheers and occasional tears. My only wrinkle with it is that Mamie describes herself as a slow reader. I wondered whether someone with her vocabulary and advanced understanding of people and thins could be a slow reader, but I'm no expert.
These letters are filled with a kind of child-like innocence, and yet they are very much a reflection of the time. Mamie tells Michael Collins in her letters that her parents seem to be having some kind of marital discord; (she calls them "discussions".) That discord erupts in full the night her dad refuses to attend a moon launch party her mom had planned. Always yearning for a bigger broader life beyond the walls of her house, Mamie's mom walks out on the family one night during dinner. Days later, Dad leaves home to find Mom and try to fix things. Mamie is alone with a self-centered older sister who, in late-60s typical teenage fashion, sleeps until noon and spends most of her waking hours with a boyfriend. Mamie's oldest sister has moved out of the house, something that caused no small controversy for that family in that day and time. At some point, it is Mamie who is left to figuratively guide the family ship. She and Michael Collins have a great deal in common.
The author uses period details wonderfully well. She tells of writing phone numbers on the side of the phone. She points out that those of us who were Mamie's age in 1969 were expected to play outside, and there weren't a lot of strictures on where we could play or how far from the house we went.
She recreates vividly the launch and landing. Reading Mamie's description of the event brought it back to me with real force and clarity. I was comforted, too, by the idea that some things haven't changed all that much. You can still buy Fruit Loops and Tang, for example.
It takes talent to create a book based on letters, and the author demonstrates her excellence by pulling this off nicely.
Amy Melissa Bentley's narration was magnificent--even better than that. She brought child-like wonder to the book--a kind of innocence and sophistication all at once. Nothing is over the top where this narration is concerned. Bentley has one of those lovely ageless voices, and her pace and cadence is such that she can effortlessly transport you back to 1969 or anywhere else she wants you to go. They simply couldn't have found a better match for a narrator of this book. It was already an excellent book; Amy Melissa Bentley made it even better.
Mamie is one day away from the start of the 1969 summer vacation. She has been handed the final assignment of the year. She is hours away from all the freedom and unstructured play that a late 1960s summer promised; just one assignment stood between her and a summer full of fun with her neighbor and friend, Buster, whose real name we never learn.
The assignment: Write a letter to one of the three Apollo 11 astronauts. All the girls in the class except Mamie picked Neal Armstrong; the boys all chose Buzz Aldrin because he was cool and had a cool name. Mamie was the only one in the class who chose Michael Collins, the sometimes-lonely astronaut whose solitary job was to keep the main module on target. She wrote her letter, and as the summer progressed and the date of the historic launch grew near, she kept writing. These letters to the unsung hero spaceman were Mamie's way of expressing herself--or telling someone, anyone, about the changes going on in her personal world.
This book brought cheers and occasional tears. My only wrinkle with it is that Mamie describes herself as a slow reader. I wondered whether someone with her vocabulary and advanced understanding of people and thins could be a slow reader, but I'm no expert.
These letters are filled with a kind of child-like innocence, and yet they are very much a reflection of the time. Mamie tells Michael Collins in her letters that her parents seem to be having some kind of marital discord; (she calls them "discussions".) That discord erupts in full the night her dad refuses to attend a moon launch party her mom had planned. Always yearning for a bigger broader life beyond the walls of her house, Mamie's mom walks out on the family one night during dinner. Days later, Dad leaves home to find Mom and try to fix things. Mamie is alone with a self-centered older sister who, in late-60s typical teenage fashion, sleeps until noon and spends most of her waking hours with a boyfriend. Mamie's oldest sister has moved out of the house, something that caused no small controversy for that family in that day and time. At some point, it is Mamie who is left to figuratively guide the family ship. She and Michael Collins have a great deal in common.
The author uses period details wonderfully well. She tells of writing phone numbers on the side of the phone. She points out that those of us who were Mamie's age in 1969 were expected to play outside, and there weren't a lot of strictures on where we could play or how far from the house we went.
She recreates vividly the launch and landing. Reading Mamie's description of the event brought it back to me with real force and clarity. I was comforted, too, by the idea that some things haven't changed all that much. You can still buy Fruit Loops and Tang, for example.
It takes talent to create a book based on letters, and the author demonstrates her excellence by pulling this off nicely.
Amy Melissa Bentley's narration was magnificent--even better than that. She brought child-like wonder to the book--a kind of innocence and sophistication all at once. Nothing is over the top where this narration is concerned. Bentley has one of those lovely ageless voices, and her pace and cadence is such that she can effortlessly transport you back to 1969 or anywhere else she wants you to go. They simply couldn't have found a better match for a narrator of this book. It was already an excellent book; Amy Melissa Bentley made it even better.
Truly amazing. It may seem to be young and ridiculous, but it addresses weightier issues if you look deeper. Adorable and moving. So recommended.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
I've tried finishing the book in 10 days since it's the first book I haven't listened to in a long time, and I did it in nine! Yay!
The book is written as letters to the astronaut Michael Collins, and this is the first time for me to know who is he (totally blaming my national only education). He was one of the three astronauts who went to the moon, but he was the one who stayed with the ship.
There three main things that touched me in the book; the first one is how depressing it was for MC knowing that he'll never set foot on the moon, the second one was the short biography about him, and the last one was Mamie being left alone.
I was so angry reading that last part, and it didn't help that I was sad and lonely myself at the time. I was so angry and really wanted her to yell at her family and make them all feel guilty for what they did.. but whatever, nothing goes as I want.
Overall, I'm really happy I got to read this, even with it not being an audio.
The book is written as letters to the astronaut Michael Collins, and this is the first time for me to know who is he (totally blaming my national only education). He was one of the three astronauts who went to the moon, but he was the one who stayed with the ship.
There three main things that touched me in the book; the first one is how depressing it was for MC knowing that he'll never set foot on the moon, the second one was the short biography about him, and the last one was Mamie being left alone.
I was so angry reading that last part, and it didn't help that I was sad and lonely myself at the time. I was so angry and really wanted her to yell at her family and make them all feel guilty for what they did.. but whatever, nothing goes as I want.
Overall, I'm really happy I got to read this, even with it not being an audio.