GODSPEED, JOHN GLENN

Hilliard’s biography of John Glenn focuses on his first orbit of the earth in 1962 in Friendship 7, the Mercury capsule, but does briefly mention his early life and history. And on one last double spread, he notes that Glenn “became a prominent U.S. Senator” and even went back into space in 1998. He manages a complicated skein of information by sticking to a straight narrative in very simple language, using sidebars to convey further and more detailed description with stronger vocabulary. The muscular acrylic paintings sometimes have odd edges or finishes; there is one unfortunate image where the astronaut’s face is split in two by the page fold. The pictures are dramatic, however, belying the somewhat static text. A way to show very young readers an astronaut story, but Sally Ride’s To Space and Back (1986) is much more engaging. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)