Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very imaginative kids living with parents who are always fighting. Takes the perspective of their three children who all cope in their own way. It was a fun read and I enjoyed it.
Good and human/flawed characters and tidbit of historical(1986) fiction. Great vocab.
I wasn’t sure about this one bc characters were difficult to like but great writing and growth pulled me in.
Very well done with Challenger tragedy!
Would be interesting comparison with Towers Falling
I wasn’t sure about this one bc characters were difficult to like but great writing and growth pulled me in.
Very well done with Challenger tragedy!
Would be interesting comparison with Towers Falling
There are three Nelson-Riley siblings struggling through 7th grade in 1986. Cash has been held back and is in danger of being held back again. He loves basketball but has no focus. Fitch spends all his time playing arcade games like Major Havoc. Bird is obsessed with tinkering and machines and being the first female shuttle commander. Their home life is less than ideal. Mom and dad fight a lot. Mom has gone back to work and the house is chaotic. None of the children are getting the attention they need from their parents and are largely on their own.
The story is centered around the Challenger space shuttle. Because Christa McCauliffe was the first teacher in space a lot of the school activities were related to Challenger. Bird becomes obsessed with Challenger and has imaginary talks with Judith Resnick. The Challenger explosion throws her for a spin and forces the siblings to come together.
I loved each of these siblings and could see each of them in kids I have known. I think they are kids young readers can relate to. I liked that things did not get miraculously better at the end because that is just not realistic. But I do think the siblings' relationship has improved and they will continue to be able to count on each other even if they can't count on their parents.
The story is centered around the Challenger space shuttle. Because Christa McCauliffe was the first teacher in space a lot of the school activities were related to Challenger. Bird becomes obsessed with Challenger and has imaginary talks with Judith Resnick. The Challenger explosion throws her for a spin and forces the siblings to come together.
I loved each of these siblings and could see each of them in kids I have known. I think they are kids young readers can relate to. I liked that things did not get miraculously better at the end because that is just not realistic. But I do think the siblings' relationship has improved and they will continue to be able to count on each other even if they can't count on their parents.
I really liked this book. Maybe because I related to so much of the content. It's set int he 80s (I'm an 80s kid), the main character has a twin brother and an older sibling (I have a twin brother and an older sibling), and the twins did experiments to see if they could read each other's minds (we did that, too!). The author did a great job of intertwining the individual stories of these three siblings with their struggles in middle school and their dysfunctional family with the upcoming launch of the space shuttle Challenger. Kids will definitely related to these characters and learn a little history.
4.5 star -- I just LOVE Erin Entrada Kelly's voice and this slice of life piece of historical fiction just aches in the loveliest, shining way.
Newbery Honor 2021. This was one of my favorites of the year, the family had issues and problems, but they were not tragic ones!
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Beautiful book exploring sibling relationships, family dynamics, school friendships and an inspiring teacher with the background of the challenger space shuttle launch. I loved the character portrayals and how the unsaid words spoke volumes in the book. Highly recommend to middle grade kids.
Three siblings with the same teacher - Ms. Salonga - for different periods of the school day in Park, Delaware, in January, 1986, work on a group project to mimic the activities of the space shuttle crew which they anticipate during Science Month.
Well, Bernadette (called Bird; age 12) works on it. Her twin Henry (called Fitch) and their older brother Cash (age 13; short for ???) don't do any homework and don't care about the project. It's really Bird and Ms. Salonga who are the "we" in the title "We dream of space."
I'm not sure if young readers will already know that the specific space shuttle mission Bird and her teacher are anticipating is the Challenger disaster, which exploded less than 2 minutes after it took off. For those who do know, it casts a pall over the story which is echoed and amplified by the unresponsiveness of the three siblings' bland, personality-bereft parents Tammy & Mike.
Their parents argue incessantly, and make the family's home life so miserable that nobody wants to do anything together; not talk, not eat, not play, and barely watch sports t.v. together.
It was so painful to observe that I almost stopped reading. My parents divorced when I was 12, so when I was 11, I was very familiar with this "soundtrack." And then, when my own kids were 10 and 13, their father and I separated. So I've also participated in plenty of distressing parental arguments myself.
[I edited out a bunch of my thoughts on divorce, on parental distraction, on siblings showing up for you...]
This is not a hopeful book, it's trying instead to (perhaps honestly) show that some parents are *not* there for you at all, and some siblings have extremely limited capacity for compassion & mutual affection. Just thinking about Cash's terrible idea to have that girl sign his cast...I get depressed thinking of the episode - absolutely humorless, demeaning, and self-punishing. And all he does is inure himself to it - he keeps looking at it until he fully absorbs the disdain the girl showed him. That episode shows 100% misery - and 0% growth.
It made me realize that part of the reason so many children's books *are* hopeful is because the adults writing them have survived their own experiences and have observed most of their peers doing the same, so it's statistically accurate to project hopefulness. So it really made me wonder why Kelly chose to create this desperately bereft family without giving space for hopeful redemption.
Who do these people represent? Where do Tammy and Mike come from? Why did they have children and why didn't they even try to give their children a little faith in themselves? Ugh.
Well, Bernadette (called Bird; age 12) works on it. Her twin Henry (called Fitch) and their older brother Cash (age 13; short for ???) don't do any homework and don't care about the project. It's really Bird and Ms. Salonga who are the "we" in the title "We dream of space."
I'm not sure if young readers will already know that the specific space shuttle mission Bird and her teacher are anticipating is the Challenger disaster, which exploded less than 2 minutes after it took off. For those who do know, it casts a pall over the story which is echoed and amplified by the unresponsiveness of the three siblings' bland, personality-bereft parents Tammy & Mike.
Their parents argue incessantly, and make the family's home life so miserable that nobody wants to do anything together; not talk, not eat, not play, and barely watch sports t.v. together.
It was so painful to observe that I almost stopped reading. My parents divorced when I was 12, so when I was 11, I was very familiar with this "soundtrack." And then, when my own kids were 10 and 13, their father and I separated. So I've also participated in plenty of distressing parental arguments myself.
[I edited out a bunch of my thoughts on divorce, on parental distraction, on siblings showing up for you...]
This is not a hopeful book, it's trying instead to (perhaps honestly) show that some parents are *not* there for you at all, and some siblings have extremely limited capacity for compassion & mutual affection. Just thinking about Cash's terrible idea to have that girl sign his cast...I get depressed thinking of the episode - absolutely humorless, demeaning, and self-punishing. And all he does is inure himself to it - he keeps looking at it until he fully absorbs the disdain the girl showed him. That episode shows 100% misery - and 0% growth.
It made me realize that part of the reason so many children's books *are* hopeful is because the adults writing them have survived their own experiences and have observed most of their peers doing the same, so it's statistically accurate to project hopefulness. So it really made me wonder why Kelly chose to create this desperately bereft family without giving space for hopeful redemption.
Who do these people represent? Where do Tammy and Mike come from? Why did they have children and why didn't they even try to give their children a little faith in themselves? Ugh.