Friday Memes: Astrotwins by Mark Kelly

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Astrotwins: Project Blastoff by Mark Kelly with Martha Freeman. 224 p. Simon & Schuster/ Paula Wiseman Books, March 24, 2015. 9781481417365.

Publisher synopsis: A team of middle schoolers prepares for blastoff in this adventure from the author of the New York Times bestsellingMousetronaut, based on the childhoods of real-life astronauts Mark Kelly and his twin brother Scott.

It’s a long, hot summer and Scott and Mark are in big trouble for taking apart (aka destroying) their dad’s calculator. As a punishment, they’re sent to their grandfather’s house, where there’s no TV and they have to do chores. And Grandpa is less tolerant of the twins’ constant bickering. “Why don’t you two work together on something constructive. What if you built a go-kart or something?” Grandpa suggests.

But it’s not a go-kart the twins are interested in. They want to build a rocket. With the help of Jenny, nicknamed Egg, and a crew of can-do kids, they set out to build a real rocket that will blast off and orbit the Earth. The question soon becomes: which twin will get to be the astronaut?

Written by a NASA astronaut with four space flights under his belt, this exciting story includes extensive back matter on the space program with fantastic facts and details.

First line(s): This time the twins were determined. Nothing would go wrong.

Page 56: Everybody else just looked at Howard, who finally shrugged. "There's nothing else to explain. That's it."

    "Maybe for you," Mark said. Then  he looked at Barry. "You want to try that in regular human-speak?"

I'll be reviewing this for SLJ. I will admit that I'm geeking out over the STEM possibilities and have already given the eighth grade science teacher a heads up.