To the Stars!: The First American Woman to Walk in Space

Sick of young girls with dreams of being Princesses - this year I gave all my grandnieces every book, game, doll and LEGO set I could find about the Brave & Historic Women in the US Space Program!!

My granddaughters love this book! Kathy’s story is perfectly timed as the “space game “ is back on in America. Girls can (and do) do anything and this is a great way to get them interested in something other than princesses

Great kids nonfiction book!

We bought this book to use for a "wax" museum autobiography for 3rd grade. Though it is more story oriented, there is a very nice section that included just the information we needed!

A well written story of America’s first female space walker.

I read this book at the Armstrong Space museum. Preschoolers liked details that belong in their world, like Kathy loved traveling and maps. She wanted to go everywhere, and she did! The authors/illustrators went on to show related facts with Kathy as a kid, then as an adult. Kathy did cannonballs in a pool as a kid. As an adult she’s still underwater doing astronaut training. As a teenager Kathy learned to use a dashboard to pilot a plane. As an astronaut she learned to control the buttons on a spaceship to fly to the stars.Growing up Kathy heard things like “Girls don’t like those jobs” or “Girls are supposed to be teachers or nurses or moms.” Kathy ignored the nay-sayers and lived her dreams. I’m glad she shared her story in this book. She’s a great role model for today’s girls and boys who have big dreams.

My five-year-old has some excellent female role-models, not to mention Doc McStuffins. At this stage in her life, she is well aware that gender should not be a barrier for her doing what she wants to do with life. Still, I always like to show her women who do great things (without telling her that is what we are doing). TO THE STARS is a wonderful book for that purpose. It is also a wonderful book for any kid interested in space exploration, science, etc.The book describes the life of Kathy Sullivan, former astronaut and the first woman to walk in space. The book tells the story of how Kathy became interested in flying and how she refused to listen to those who told her that “girls” cannot do certain jobs. The authors did a fantastic job of illustrating how the things Kathy did when she was younger prepared her for her work at NASA. The illustrations are detailed and well done. They tie the entire book together.I am fairly new to children’s nonfiction, though nonfiction books comprise the majority of my personal reading. I also write for academic markets. Reading this book, I am in awe of how well the authors told the story of Dr. Sullivan at a child’s level (in fewer than 50 total pages). This is a superb work of nonfiction for any child. I also appreciated the back material of the book that went into a bit more detail on Dr. Sullivan.TO THE STARS tells a wonderful story, the writing is superb, and the illustrations are outstanding.This Christmas, my daughter asked for one gift: a toy rocket. She got it. Guess I need to start saving for space camp.In the interest of full disclosure, I received a complimentary electronic copy of TO THE STARS from the publisher (via Netgalley) for review purposes.

I enjoyed this children's book about Kathy Sullivan. The story was interesting and I liked reading about Kathy's adventure heart as a child and as an adult. I really appreciated the more personal information about Kathy at the back of the book as well as a brief description of other women in space history. What great role models they are for children.One aspect of the book that I didn't love was in the way it was told. I felt that it was a little disjointed in the way that it bounced back and forth between Kathy's life as a young girl and her adulthood. Other people may feel that it flows just fine but it didn't work very well for me.The illustrations fit nicely with the overall story and added a great feel to the book. I look forward to reading more by this author.Thank you to NetGalley and Charlesbridge for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I bought this for my clas of 5 year olds during a space topic when one girl asked 'What are all the astronauts in books men?' This is an inspiring true story that's ideally aimed at 5-7 year olds.