Apollo 13

by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, Wesley Lowe (Illustrator)

Could you survive an outer-space disaster? Aspiring astronauts and young explorers will love this out-of-this-world Totally True Adventure.
 
Astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise blasted off for the Moon on April 11, 1970. But after a disastrous explosion damaged their spacecraft, the three men had only one goal: to get back home safely. This informational text makes space travel exciting and accessible for younger readers and features illustrations, photographs, a map, and additional Story Behind the Story facts.
 
Perfect for readers of the I Survived series and the Who Was series, Totally True Adventures are captivating nonfiction stories with not-to-be-missed bonus content.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 24, 2015

About the author

Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld is the award-winning author of more than sixty books for children, including DINOSAUR TRACKS, "a great choice for even the most discriminating dinophiles" (School Library Journal); DID DINOSAURS HAVE FEATHERS?, a Children's Book of the Month Club selection, described as "fascinating" by Kirkus Reviews; and DINOSAURS BIG AND SMALL, a 2003 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book Award winner.

When she's not reading, researching, writing, or editing, Kathleen loves to spend her free time exploring, doing fieldwork, and preparing fossils for her local natural history museums.

Reviews

[Kara]

"Twin Text" (title, author, copyright date):
Space Case by Stuart Gibbs, 2014

"Twin Text" Rationale & Extension/Enhancement of Non-Fiction Book:
Space Case is about a 12-year old boy named Dash who lives on Moon Base Alpha (MBA), an extraterrestrial colony and is working to solve the mystery of a MBA scientist's unexpected death. This twin text is about life in space and includes humorous excerpts from "The Official Resident's Guide to MBA" with instructions on daily life aboard the colony. I felt this text would enhance the reading of Apollo 13 because it provides an imagined way of life in space, which the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were working toward achieving.

Text Structure of Non-Fiction Book:
Combination of description and chronological because the events of the Apollo 13 explosion are told in a narrative manner in the order that things happened aboard the space shuttle.

Strategy Application for Making Connections between Texts:
I would have students set up a timeline to keep the events of the story in order. Since this text is not just facts, but there is a storyline embedded in it, students can get lost in the story and forget about the events on the shuttle. By building on the historical events of Apollo 13, students will understand more clearly why the astronauts were saying and doing what they were. We could also create a timeline for the events of Space Case because it will help students track the events leading up to the murder.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Christmas Eve three astronauts, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert took off to the moon. The astronauts got into space successfully and all was going well until the astronauts heard a loud boom. The oxygen tank had exploded and it was leaking out into space. The astronauts had to move to the only livable place which was the lunar module. The lunar module was only built to sustain 2 people for a small amount of time. The astronauts had to keep close communication with Houston to make sure all the systems were being maintained correctly and that the spacecraft was on course. To get back to Earth they would have to use the gravity of the moon to help them gain speed and course direction to get back to earth safely. The lunar module had very little fuel and battery power to use to get back to Earth so after using all the battery power they shut down the whole module so they could use the energy while rentering the atmosphere. That was successful and the crew made it back to Earth safely.

I gave this book a 5 out of 5 because there was PLENTY of exciting and intense moments. It follows the crew on its journey to which was supposed to be the moon but turned out to be a life or death if they don't do the correct operations. The book gave illustrations and pictures to help you understand what was going in the spacecraft at that moment in time. This book also gave deep detail into what happened and what went wrong on the spacecraft. This book was an entertaining and informational book that was very enjoyable.

[Lizette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apollo 13 is a good book, it talks about all sort of rocket and how they are trying to find a mission i feel like this book is an easy read and has lots of information and is also very clear in some parts it is a little boring but by the time they get to the mission part it is really interesting.

[Khalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was vary good

[Bryan N]

gf f

[Chase · Rating 1 out of 5]

like my comment if you love your mom

[Ladraney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book with my 10 year old son and it was great. He loves the suspense of some of the problems the astronauts faced and was excited to see it in cinematic form after we finished the book.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading these "Totally True Adventures." This one if fast paced and easy to read. It gives a lot of information, but doesn't get too bogged down with the technical terms. Just gives what you need to know to follow the story. They wrote about the concerns of the doctor every now and then so you can remember that the astronauts were going for days with very little sleep and water and just how cold it was for them.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book reads a lot like the Apollo 13 movie - too much, in fact.

[Rochelle Sondae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced read. I felt foolish for forgetting the acronyms. (CM = command module, SM = service module, LM = lunar module)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was well-written and informative. I didn’t like the drawings - I would have preferred pictures or illustrations. However, that didn’t lower the quality of the book.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the Random House Children’s Books Totally True Adventure titles, “Apollo 13” tells the story of the ill-fated flight that almost became an outer-space disaster.

Written for readers ages seven through ten, there are illustrations, photographs, and a map to supplement the informational text and enhance the learning. Of special note is the unique “Story Behind the Story” fact section that provides essential information in a bonus appendix. Both aspiring fledgling astronauts and young readers alike are sure to find much to enjoy in this exciting narrative.

Highly recommended.

[LSC-University Park SLRC]

Available to Lone Star College users via the EBSCO Ebook Collection.