Earthrise: Apollo 8 and the Photo that Changed the World

“Earthrise,” the famed photograph taken by Bill Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, is the subject of this quietly resonant picture book. A brown-skinned child with wide, red-rimmed glasses and puffy pigtails peers out her window onto protestors demanding the end to the Vietnam War. It’s 1968—a year rife with civic and political discord. Illustrating in an evocative retro style, Lundy alternates between views of the Apollo 8 lift-off and journey, mission control, and Earth, where families—including the girl’s—intently watch the footage from the spacecraft’s TV camera. Lundy captures the powerful moment when Anders photographs Earth rising with a full, wordless spread that depicts the view from the spacecraft. Gladstone expresses the collective experience of awe and wonder in response to the image while showing its more intimate impact on a single child. Ages 4–8. [em](Oct.) [/em]