ONE SMALL STEP

Stories do not get any more outlandish than this one about a 13-year-old boy recruited by NASA to fly with two chimps to the moon in 1969. His parents separated, Scott MacLeod lives with his father, an Air Force major who indulges his son’s interest in flying. After Scott’s remarkable demonstration of skill and calm during a mid-air emergency, two NASA scientists decide to recruit him as a replacement for an unruly chimpanzee on a secret moon mission that will precede Apollo 11. After intensive training, Scott blasts off with his two simian crewmates in the Caliban 11—and even takes a stroll on the moon. Kerr creates some snafus to keep up the tension but all safely return to Earth. References to cultural and current events give a good sense of the time, and detailed discussions of the training and technologies will interest many readers. Plausibility and imagination are stretched to the limit, but readers who would enjoy fast-paced, space-age adventures will wish they had the outrageous good fortune of Scott MacLeod. (Fiction. 8-13)