Treasury for Young Readers (1961)

 

Occasionally the most unpromising book can have hidden treasure. In this case a Wernher von Braun story and some great Fred Freeman illustrations. Treasury for Young Readers was a collection of stories for children, some from Reader's Digest stories and some from books. Occasionally I have saved books for what is inside rather than a great cover.

Treasury for Young Readers. Reader’s Digest. Pleasantville, NY. Reader’s Digest Association. (202 p.) 1961.  (“First Men to the Moon", Von Braun pp 87-98) 

Book blogged about here:

https://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2015/03/first-men-to-moon-1960-part-1.html

Техника Молодежи (Youth Technology) Issue 4 (1973 )

 

“ХОРОВОД КОСМИЧЕСКИХ ЛАБОРАТОРИЙ ‘Round Dance of Space Laboratories’

A re-run from a few years ago. I really like this 1973 issue of Youth Technology. The issue was dedicated to Soviet past and future in space. It has some great illustration of what they had done and what they hoped to do.

Техника Молодежи (Youth Technology) (magazine) Issue 4, 1973 

Out of This World (1953)

 

 

Happy Friday the 13th (in October too). Don't worry, you have gotten really lucky today.

Out of this World was one of my favorite "discoveries" when I first started collecting these books. It is a massive 160 pages of games, jokes, riddles, and space facts. I last blogged about this one 13 years ago so I am happy to have a chance to improve my quality and quantity.

Thompson, Jeff. Out of This World: An Activity Book based on Space Travel. New York: Hart Publications. (160 p.) 27 cm.

Johnny's Space Trip (1954)

 

A re-run--

Back to the imaginative past and Johnny's Space Trip. This 1954 fictional book captures the spirit of doing it for yourself as Johnny and his friends build (and dream of) a spaceship for a journey from their backyard. It is pure fantasy but as you will see there is a scientific bent to what Johnny wants to bring.

Sells, Mike. Illustrated by Charles Stone. Johnny's Space Trip. Cross Publications, Inc., New York, 1954.

So what would/did you take on a space trip to the Moon? I know I imagined this trip in a number of ways. I think that was one of the reasons that Space Food Sticks, Tang, and other space age food were so interesting to me. I was practicing for the "diet of the future."

This selection of supplies is pretty reasonable, especially the big box of candy bars.  However I am a little worried about the tank of oxygen!  While very useful, you do wonder if this was something Johnny had around the house.

Johnny heads for the Moon. Of course since he has just an afternoon for the voyage he was not planning to land. Notice that they passed the "space platform" on their way to the Moon and were going 6000 miles an hour.  The book also discussed the question of where do moon craters come from.