With my love for rockets in children's books I am always interested in illustrations. Before 1950 there were few illustrations of rockets for children outside of the Buck Rogers etc. type. This one is a charming fictional book about exploring the solar system.
Roche, Ruth A. Coloring by David B. Icove. Adventures of Peter Pupp. New York, NY: Action Play Books, Inc. 6 1/2" x 8" 30 pp.
Not really rare, just obscure.
Peter is given a chance to go to the Moon in a home-made space ship. The design is more like an wingless airplane with rockets attached. In an alternate universe I imagine this as the first SSTO vehicle. It launches from a ramp but returns and lands on wheels.
He has a wild voyage trying to control the ship.
Upon finding the Weather Man (who lives of course up in the sky) they zoom home again.
I find books like this right at the core of why I like books about space. Fiction or non-fiction they present the idea that space is a place a child could go. It is an adventure waiting and even if you have to build the ship yourself, I still find myself remembering how much I wished I could go too.
