Mournful Mouse and the Space Trip (1963)

 

I am not really scraping the bottom of the barrel as much as taking the time to post the most obscure stuff in my space book collection. I collected almost any pre 1980 children's book about spaceflight. I preferred the non-fiction but picked up some strange fiction and comics along the way. (Giant carrots from the Moon anyone?)

So Mournful Mouse and The Space Trip is part of a series of books. This was the only one about rockets or space. It was the author's self-published effort. The two sizes of type on each page are odd. It seems (to our modern eyes) THAT THE OTHER VOICE IS YELLING.

A simple story: a mouse boy finds a sky rocket, accidently gets launched to the Moon, and makes it home for the picnic (with a stomach-ache.)

I do not understand the Mournful Mouse character either.

Schmock, Helen H. Illustrated by Schmock, Helen H. Mournful and The Space Trip. (The Adventures of Mournful Mouse, Book 3.) Ludington, MI: J & H Publishing. (16 p.) 1963. 

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.