MOON TREE

A tribute to an ecological legacy of the early space program.

Fraiser tells the tale simply, then again in more detail in an afterword: “One ordinary boy,” she writes, grew up to be an astronaut and took a parcel of tree seeds to the moon in honor of the smokejumpers he had worked with earlier in his career. Later, the 500 or so seeds were brought back to Earth, planted in pots, distributed around the country—and forgotten, even at NASA, until 20 years later an “ordinary girl” in Indiana wondering why a sycamore was dubbed a “moon tree” sparked a third grade class to investigate. The author appends a partial list of moon tree locations and invites readers to “see if there is a moon tree near you!” Along with views of our planet and its satellite against starry backdrops, Mulazzani fills the branches of the mature tree with stars and other astronomical wonders. The White astronaut, whose name was Stuart Roosa, poses in a final scene similarly bedecked in commemoration of the ordinary boy who took “some ordinary seeds / on one extraordinary journey.” Human figures elsewhere in the art, including the unnamed “girl,” are small but seem to be depicted with some variation in skin color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A small but “extraordinary” episode, well worth the belated notice.