Friday, December 25, 2020

Santa's Rocket Sleigh (1957)



Merry Christmas from Dreams of Space! Here is an oldie but a goodie: Santa's Rocket Sleigh. It actually does not have that much space content but it is very seasonal and I love the cover.

The story is really around the idea that the reindeer thinks there must be a better way to deliver toys. Santa assigns one of his elves to come up with a solution.

Santa's Rocket Sleigh. By Florence Storch. Illustrated by Elizabeth Webbe. Chicago : Rand McNally. 1957








 And just in case you have been looking for a slightly different seasonal song, here is one from the back of the book.



Friday, December 18, 2020

Santa and His Rocket Ship and Santa's Moon Rocket (1976?)


 

So this is a Christmas post based on some great pieces of ephemera I found about: "The Santa Claus Rocket." As part of holiday promotions shopping malls would have special Santa events to attract shoppers.  One of these available for rent was The Santa Claus Rocket. I found a number of pamphlets from the company about this rental and wanted to share. Is this what you want for Christmas? Well it may be stuck in the heads of those kids that did get to do this. And there is more, for an extra treat I have Santa's Moon Rocket too.









SANTA'S MOON ROCKET










More Santa in space next week!



Friday, December 11, 2020

Arrow at America's Spaceport (1966)

 

As part of my re-scan project I present in much fuller detail Arrow at America's Spaceport. This is one of the stranger children's books about space and seems like it was a product of trying to cash in on the "space race." It is about a famous racehorse's visit to Cape Kennedy. filled with facts and photos about the space program. It also has a number of pictures of the horse superimposed on space pictures.


Scarboro, Pat. Arrow at America’s Spaceport: The Children’s Book on Space. Cape Canaveral, FL: Pat Scarboro. (96 p.) 1966.






Be sure to look for the tiny horse at the base of the Statue of Liberty...







The captions trying to link the horse pictures with the NASA photographs are also unique...




It was a way to buy a child something about the space program, I guess. Alternatively it would appeal to boys and girls because of spaceships AND horses.

SANTA IS COMING EARLY NEXT WEEK. HAVE YOU BEEN GOOD?

Friday, December 4, 2020

Moon Adventure Coloring Story Book (1974)

 



Moon Adventure Coloring Story Book is very funny but not for the right reasons. It is poor drawn and inaccurate. It feels like "product" for parents to buy their child just to give them something about spaceflight.  So bad it is good! But also worth sharing as part of my mission to find all this spaceflight stuff for children. Enjoy!


Moon Adventure Coloring Story Book. Brooklyn, NY : Balan Industries, Inc. ( 64 p.) 1974.












Always bring your Sherpas to the Moon....