Who Was Neil Armstrong?

Who is Neil Armstrong is a quick read meant for beginning chapter book readers. It provides a surface overview of his life and the events leading up to his walk on the moon. This book is not for anyone who already knows the basic facts about Neil Armstrong, as the reading level is low and there is

Show More

not a lot of detail. The drawings will help young readers break up the text, but provide little benefit or clarification. By including some photographs, this book could have been greatly improved. There were some draw diagrams which help the reader visualize the rocket and its path.

At times, the author jumps back to explain the historical events which led up to important details in Armstrong's life, but frequently she seems to include irrelevant or tangential details in the middle of the text. There are other sections, set apart, where she highlights other famous aviators, which was a nice addition. She skirts over historical bigotries, with one comment which explains that women were not allowed to become astronauts.

This book is intended as a very early chapter book biography, a task which it fulfills, but I would not recommend it for your library.

Show Less

The purpose of this book is to inform readers of the life of Neil Armstrong. Many readers know him as the first man to walk on the moon, but through this book, readers can learn what influenced Neil to reach this goal and what his life was like outside of NASA.

I liked this book for two reasons.

Show More

First, I liked the author's writing. In this biography, he did not hide anything. This book explains how Neil lost a daughter when she was only three and also explains to the readers that Neil divorced his wife and got remarried. This book is more for third and fourth graders and I believe that in a sense it is appropriate for the age group.

Another reason why I liked the book is because there are illustrations here and there. Because the book is a biography, I believe that for the younger readers it can be harder to read and process the information. For visual learners, the images can help show the key points of Neil's life.

Show Less

I enjoyed this book for two reasons. First, the author’s writing is engaging. I liked how the author wrote about Neil Armstrong in a story-like fashion rather than stating endless, seemingly random and useless facts about Neil Armstrong. Most informational or biography books I have read contain

Show More

writing that is similar to a textbook’s and are overloaded with information, but this book discussed aspects other than just facts about the topic. The author actually mentioned how Neil Armstrong felt; his thoughts and fears during his journey. The second reason I liked this book is because of the illustrations. Even though this is a chapter book, there are illustrations on almost every page alongside the substantial amount of written text. Additionally, the illustrations do not have a unified theme. They are placed differently among the pages, are different sizes, and are unique to fit the section of the written text they pertain to. Among some of the pages there are drawings of people, maps, airplanes, parts of spacecraft (labeled), and more. The big idea of this book is to inform readers about the life and the significance of the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong.

Show Less

My son and I enjoyed another "Who Was?" biography about the first person to set foot on the moon. Armstrong was always a private person so he was harder to feel like you knew anything about him compared with Buzz Aldrin and other more outgoing astronauts. This book fills in the details such as his

Show More

early love for flying and becoming a pilot at a young age. There's also the sad story of his daughter dying at the age of two, something that Armstrong never spoke about. This is a good bio for children (and their parents) wanting to learn about the man who took "one small step" and changed the world.

Show Less