Bugs Bunny's Rocket to The Moon (1949)

 

Something a little more fun today. Bugs Bunny's Rocket to the Moon is complete and silly fiction.  Post WW II rockets were a lot more real to the public. They also were more real to children. So here is an inaccurate trip to the Moon.

There is an interesting line exploring when does "science fiction" change to "science fact?"  In 1949 there were children's books about how to build model rockets. There were science fiction magazines on the newsstands. And in just 2 years there will be television show for kids about "space heroes."  So silly as Bugs Bunny is, it is fun to see how kids imagination about what might not be fiction changes.

Bugs Bunny’s Rocket to The Moon. (Premium from Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice cereals.) Hollywood, CA: Warner Brothers Cartoons. (30 p.) 1949. 

Babar's Moon Trip (1968)

 

Babar's Moon Trip was a pop-up book I had never come across before. It seems influenced a little by the space race and the American efforts to get to the Moon. 

They face problems like: not achieving escape velocity for the Moon, failure of stage separation, failure to adjust quickly to reduced gravity on the Moon, and a very short exploration time to obtain samples before their launch window :)

It is not really a "pure" pop-up book but rather has some pop-ups and various flaps and tabs you can pull (for action.) 

de Brunhoff, Laurent. Babar's Moon Trip. New York: Random House. (18 p.) 1968.

Tip & Top and The Moon Rocket (1964)

 

A charming pop-up book about a trip to the moon. Like other pop-up books it is hard to share how wonderful it is to see the rocket rise up or how the surface of the Moon is 3-d.  It is a reprint and was was originally Czechoslovakian but I don't know much more about the original book. 

Kubasta, V. Tip & Top and The Moon Rocket. London: Bancroft and Co. (7 p.) 1964.

Jimmy and The Spaceship (1949)

 

To continue my obscure "space fiction" I have Jimmy and the Spaceship to share with you. This was a very small "pocket book" of a comic strip. There were other "Jimmy and the...." books but I really enjoyed reading this one.

It reads like the typical space story but has its own "shock" ending. I hope you like this obscure bit of early fiction about a trip to the moon.

Main, Neville. Jimmy and The Spaceship. London: Brockhampton Press. (30 p.) 1949.