I WANT TO BE AN ASTRONAUT
By Byron Barton
In the bold, beautiful style made familiar in his other nonfiction for young children (e.g., Airport and Machines at Work), Barton follows a six-person crew (one--the narrator--female; two black) on a space shuttle mission. In depicting the takeoff; a cross-section of the shuttle with the whole crew in action; eating and sleeping; a space walk (to "fix a satellite and build a factory in orbit"); and the astronauts gazing at the richly hued blue-and-green earth before returning to it, Barton's text and illustrations (outlined in very broad, black line) are models of elegant simplicity. A great introduction to a popular topic.