The Trip to the Moon

The Butterfly Club #4

by M.A. Bennett

The adventures of the time-travelling Butterfly Club continue . . . Film is set to become the new craze. Butterfly Club member and filmmaker Georges Méliès pleads to be allowed to go forward in time to harvest a movie camera from the future to make his ambitious film, A Trip to the Moon . The Butterfly Club call up Professor Lorenz's hologram from 1969. The professor reports that all of America is abuzz too, with the most ambitious scientific project in history – an actual trip to the moon. But the mission has stalled in the most terrible way – an accident on the launchpad resulted in the astronauts being trapped in a fatal fire. For the first time ever it is the professor who asks the time thieves for help – he invites them to come to 1969 and stop the dreadful accident, and make sure the trip to the moon can go ahead.

Genres: Middle Grade

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2023

About the author

M. A. Bennett is half Venetian and was born in Manchester, England, and raised in the Yorkshire Dales. She is a history graduate of Oxford University and the University of Venice, where she specialized in the study of Shakespeare’s plays as a historical source. After university she studied art and has since worked as an illustrator, an actress, and a film reviewer. She also designed tour visuals for rock bands, including U2 and the Rolling Stones. She was married on the Grand Canal in Venice and lives in north London with her husband, son, and daughter.

Reviews

[Zoe]

It was a really good book in my opinion but there are two things I would like to point out
First the three kids can't have possibly disguised themselves into CIA agents!! They are literally too young!
And lastly, how on earth did Luna survive when the spaceship was taking off?
Like literally, she was fifteen or so meters away....!

[EG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid entry in this YA series, bringing plenty of adventure alongside interesting historical lessons and moral dilemmas.

[Martine Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved the series; sad about there not being more.

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE TRIP TO THE MOON completes this series with a bang!

This book brings us furthest into the future, closer to our time, with the Apollo 11 trip. It's the space race, with great hairstyles, movies, and spies. Plus the book also tackles the idea of nuclear war.

The book also explores racial discrimination. I loved that it shone a light on Otis Boykin, a lesser known inventor, an African-American man who was initially refused ownership of his inventions. This series has consistently shone a light on the people overlooked by mainstream history.

I thought it was very fun how the book managed to include both mission control and the launch site with the use of time hoping. There was so much going on behind and I loved seeing it come to life. This also let Luna interact with the children of the astronauts, which was a great way of humanising these people who we know so much and so little about.

The mystery of what happens on 15th February 1894 is finally revealed. It has been teased since THE SHIP OF DOOM and I was very glad to see it come to pass at last. There's also a fun undermining of expectations, flipping the situation on its head.

In all, this has been a great series for kids introducing them to different parts of history with action-filled adventures.

[DayDreamer8912 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book of the series and it is the first book that I read from M. A. Bennett and it was fun travelling into the future and helping to stop the death of the Neil Armstrong and also Kostantine trying to his heart fixed. And of course this is the finale so I suggest that you will have to read from the first book to understand. And of course though they are time travellers they are also thieves that bring things back from the future in order to use it for the better for the past.

It was a great adventure of course to help George Melies to harvest a movie camera to make his ambitious, A Trip to the Moon and also they get to disguises as CIA agents and it was totally fun and they were able to find the culprit of making the rocket to the moon explode.

Can't wait to read the first three books to understand more of the story.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprising ending.

Great finale to the series. The ending was surprising but clues where there throughout the four books. I would highly recommend the series, even as an adult I enjoyed the books.

[LudmilaM · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great time travel story and I actually learnt a lot
Love how she incorporated Georges into this one and linked to his film 📽️

[Sakura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the character development throughout the series. I found it quite enjoyable.

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished book 3 this morning and immediately wanted to read this one.
It was a good conclusion to the series, combining elements of all three previous books. Deception, time shenanigans and nifty historical details with a fun twist. Each character has their moments, even though they are split up for a lot of the time. After 3 books, they also feel more fleshed out and I've grown to care about them.

I did find the resolution of the overarching plot regarding the 445 mystery a little easily resolved. For a series that did not sugarcoat grim historical realities, drops a few swear words here and there and is not afraid to describe death, I expected something a little more dramatic than a short conversation.

If this series ever continues, I will be the first to dive into it.