About the Author

Alexandra Siy is the author of several award-winning nonfiction children's books, including SNEEZE!, MOSQUITO BITE, and FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON. She lives in Fuera Bush, New York.

Reviews

Footprints on the Moon by Alexandra Siy uses crisp, clear photographs and archival drawings to trace man's early fascination with the celestial sphere (including Stonehenge and Galileo), through to Buzz Aldrin's titular first steps and speculation about other destinations, such as Mars. ( Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Gr 3-6-This outstanding look at our venture to the Moon combines a generous array of full-color photos with lively, if concise, descriptions of the Apollo Program, its predecessors, and the early history of rocketry. A look at the Moon's face in different phases gives way to portraits of Galileo and Robert Goddard's homemade-looking rocket, followed by shots of astronauts posing in and out of their massive spacesuits. Artists' conceptions of futuristic lunar colonies, a composite look at the other planets on our upcoming itinerary, and, finally, a parting view of a dusty, desolate moonscape round out the presentation. Siy binds the illustrations together with summary accounts of several of those long-ago Apollo missions, adding salient details and humorous comments made by the astronauts. Readers with an interest in these dramatic events will welcome the lists of books and Web sites at the end. A wildly exaggerated claim for the magnifying power of Galileo's telescope aside, this title ably captures both the magnitude of the technological achievement, and, even more strongly than Mary Ann Fraser's One Giant Leap (Holt, 1995), that heady feeling of going where none had gone before.-John Peters, New York Public Library Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.