Goodnight, Astronaut

Kelly’s second picture book starts as a memoir and ends as a motivational treatise. He begins in his childhood bedroom and backyard, where he and his identical twin play at being astronauts, then moves to his growing independence as a teenager, his Navy service, and his rigorous astronaut training. The storytelling strives to create an arc by connecting the many sleeping places that Kelly has occupied throughout his adventurous life, a final page landing readers in the bedroom of another child dreaming of an interstellar career. But text that’s overly assumptive about readers’ familiarity with Kelly muddles this interesting life’s trajectory. Burton’s cheery digital cartooning provides narrative ballast, grounding the story in a counterbalancing realism. Ages 3–7. [em](Feb.) [/em]