The 100 Year Starship (True Books: Astronaut: Dr. Mae Jemison)

Gr 3-5-These titles offer properly tantalizing surveys of our local stellar neighborhood and its ongoing exploration. "The 100 Year Starship" initiative aims "to investigate, research, and prepare for humans to travel beyond our solar system to other stars." Each volume opens by asking readers two true or false questions, promising they'll "find the answer in this book." Despite handsome packaging, star-quality authors, helpful time lines, closing "True Statistics" summaries, and resource lists with online extensions, the information is readily available in existing sets. The illustrations feature an undifferentiated mix of photos and speculative paintings, and the texts contain moot claims, such as that the Big Bang began with a particle and that atoms "are the tiniest forms of matter." The unbalanced focus on the U.S.'s space program and probes means that astronauts from Russia and China are mentioned only briefly and creates a misleading impression that NASA has been the whole show. α(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Enhanced with high-quality color photos, this title in the A True Book: Dr. Mae Jemison and 100 Year Starship series describes the 100YSS initiative to make interstellar space travel possible for humans. Jemison, the book’s coauthor and world’s first woman of color in space, will lead the initiative. The thorough yet accessible text reveals that designing a starship is no easy task, explaining the difficulties in creating enough chemical fuel to power the spacecraft, as well as the challenges of protecting humans from radiation, extreme temperatures, and lack of oxygen. And what about living inside the starship? A final chapter addresses how advancements in starship technology, such as alternative fuel sources and conservation of natural resources, could benefit life on earth. Intermittent facts and concluding statistics keep readers engaged and looking to the stars. Grades 3-5. --Angela Leeper