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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
During the month leading up to the Challenger launch in 1986, three siblings are learning about the space program and launch process while also struggling with different things in their home lives. Bird dreams of being the first NASA's first shuttle commander, her twin brother Fitch loves going to the arcade, and their older brother Cash struggles with school and loves basketball.
I enjoyed this book for the historical aspect, especially from the point of view of average kids experiencing the lead up and unfortunate fall of the Challenger. A great middle grade read to help understand the space program and this event.
I enjoyed this book for the historical aspect, especially from the point of view of average kids experiencing the lead up and unfortunate fall of the Challenger. A great middle grade read to help understand the space program and this event.
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Oooof...this one is hard to review because I was truly so excited to get my hands on it and, while I see what the author was trying to do, it was just plain...depressing. As a middle school history/ELA teacher I was thrilled when my copy came in but I'm left feeling disappointed and disjointed. I get the angst, I get the surrounding tensions, I get the metaphors and the meaning behind it all - but, at the end of the day, I didn't enjoy reading this book and I don't imagine 12, 13, or 14 year old me would've either? Sigh...
I feel like I read a very different book than a lot of the other reviewers. The 90s baby in me enjoyed some of the nostalgic worldbuilding and all the graphics of "Bird's Eye-View." I guess I just didn't connect with this one the way I'd hoped.
I feel like I read a very different book than a lot of the other reviewers. The 90s baby in me enjoyed some of the nostalgic worldbuilding and all the graphics of "Bird's Eye-View." I guess I just didn't connect with this one the way I'd hoped.
What an amazing stroll down memory lane, remembering exactly where I was when the Challenger exploded. Such a sweet story.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This is an amazing 80s slice of life about a dysfunctional family. I would recommend this to anyone
emotional
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this for January’s round of Buzzword-a-thon, where the featured word is Dream.
We Dream of Space is about a family in the 80s. The parents are sorta poor and fight about everything, the dad is really misogynistic and the mom pretends to be feminist but treats her daughter really differently than her two sons and obsesses over diet culture and whatnot. The family never spends any time together and hardly knows one another at all. Granted, I didn’t grow up in the 80s, but something about all those details just make it feel so authentic to the time period in which it’s set.
Bird and Fitch are twins, and Cash is their older brother who failed seventh grade leaving them all in the same year of school together. They’re in seventh grade the year that the Challenger space shuttle is set to launch, and learning a lot about it in science. The boys don’t pay much attention, as they both have lots of other stuff to think about, but Bird is really science-minded and starts to obsess a little over it. There’s something so childlike about the way she forms an imaginary friendship with one of the astronauts and folds the launch into her life so completely and it really reminded me of the way I’d have acted at that age. Cash grapples with feeling like he has no talents and Fitch has anger outbursts and they all just suffer in silence, operating totally independently of the family.
The setting and characterization are really the strengths of this book, because there’s not a ton plot-wise. But even though there’s a few plot lines that didn’t get resolved, and not much happened, I’m really satisfied with the story because of how realistic it all was. The characters were endearing and had believable character growth. It’s historical fiction that most middle-graders’ parents in 2021 either were too young to remember or not even born yet for, so it’ll probably be a starting point, for some kids, for learning about these kinds of Titanic-level unimaginable failures.
We Dream of Space is about a family in the 80s. The parents are sorta poor and fight about everything, the dad is really misogynistic and the mom pretends to be feminist but treats her daughter really differently than her two sons and obsesses over diet culture and whatnot. The family never spends any time together and hardly knows one another at all. Granted, I didn’t grow up in the 80s, but something about all those details just make it feel so authentic to the time period in which it’s set.
Bird and Fitch are twins, and Cash is their older brother who failed seventh grade leaving them all in the same year of school together. They’re in seventh grade the year that the Challenger space shuttle is set to launch, and learning a lot about it in science. The boys don’t pay much attention, as they both have lots of other stuff to think about, but Bird is really science-minded and starts to obsess a little over it. There’s something so childlike about the way she forms an imaginary friendship with one of the astronauts and folds the launch into her life so completely and it really reminded me of the way I’d have acted at that age. Cash grapples with feeling like he has no talents and Fitch has anger outbursts and they all just suffer in silence, operating totally independently of the family.
The setting and characterization are really the strengths of this book, because there’s not a ton plot-wise. But even though there’s a few plot lines that didn’t get resolved, and not much happened, I’m really satisfied with the story because of how realistic it all was. The characters were endearing and had believable character growth. It’s historical fiction that most middle-graders’ parents in 2021 either were too young to remember or not even born yet for, so it’ll probably be a starting point, for some kids, for learning about these kinds of Titanic-level unimaginable failures.
This book wrecked me completely and I loved it. We Dream of Space takes place in the month of January 1986, leading up to the Challenger explosion. The three Thomas children have distinct voices, and experience tremendous growth throughout the story. Kelly tackles so much in this book: family drama, anger, and feeling invisible, out of place, or left behind.
Every generation has a defining moment or tragedy. Mine was 9/11, and while reading this, I kept thinking back to what I experienced that day when I was in middle school. I think people of all ages would enjoy and appreciate We Dream of Space.
Every generation has a defining moment or tragedy. Mine was 9/11, and while reading this, I kept thinking back to what I experienced that day when I was in middle school. I think people of all ages would enjoy and appreciate We Dream of Space.