Kirkus Reviews
A child's tribute to one of the thousands of blue-collar workers who have made the space program possible. Though Dempsey looks back on family history in highlighting the small but significant contribution that her father and other workers in a South Carolina textile factory made by manufacturing one layer of spacesuit material, she holds off describing the technological feat or even placing it in historical context until her afterword. Instead, in all that comes before she mainly focuses on the admiration any child might feel for a hardworking dad. Thus, despite a climactic gathering before the TV to watch Walter Cronkite before Green cuts away to Neil Armstrong's swaddled figure, there are no narrative details that bring either the times or specifics of work in the factory itself to life. When the child asks whether her father is proud to be part of a great endeavor he answers, "Only proud to make a living, Marthanne. Only proud to make a living." Aside from dressing father and daughter in period clothing (when the latter isn't visualizing herself floating in space), Green doesn't do much to pick up the slack—one glimpse inside a factory furnished with vaguely drawn hand looms, an illegibly tiny labeled sketch of a spacesuit, and, later, a stack of old-time TVs as a tailpiece notwithstanding. Marthanne and her family are white; some group scenes include black background characters. One of a rush of commemorations of Apollo 11's semicentennial, but this is more about father-daughter intimacy than "One small step…." (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
A child with long blonde hair explains that the fabric her father weaves at the village mill "is one layer in the spacesuit our astronauts wear." Her father is humble, insisting that he is only "proud to make a living." Dempsey captures the girl's palpable excitement as the Apollo 11 mission approaches: "Watching the news,/ I can practically feel/ the rumble of engines." Green illustrates in unguarded, jewel-toned images that bring the story warmth and intimacy. In an author's note, Dempsey offers historical context, explaining that the federal government hired factories to create the Apollo mission equipment and materials—and that the author's own relatives made the fiberglass "Beta cloth" that was used in spacesuits. Through a child's perspective, Dempsey and Green brightly convey how ordinary Americans became part of history. Ages 4–8. (May)
Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly.School Library Journal Reviews