Nonfiction Monday: Team Moon

Thimmesh, Catherine. 2006. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 On the Moon.

Full of amazing pictures, Team Moon is a treat for the eyes. It uses pictures, quotes, and text to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the Apollo 11 mission. Yes, readers will hear some of the familiar story of the moon walk. But Team Moon also presents the untold story of the mission. For example, have you considered the importance of the photographs taken during the mission? Your key to immortality is solely in the quality of your photographs (53). This chapter discusses how the photography department set about modifying cameras and development processes, and training the astronauts. One of the biggest challenges was an imaginary one. Afraid of ‘moon bugs’ or ‘moon viruses’ they had to come up with a system of decontaminating the film so it could be developed immediately without damaging these once-in-a-lifetime shots. It is just one of the exciting behind-the-scenes story that Thimmesh shares with young readers.

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