Gr 8—11—Annie is lost. It is 1985, her senior year, and she has no idea what will come after graduation: college, a job in her Texas town, marriage to her longtime boyfriend, maybe revealing to the world that she desperately wants to be a poet. All of these are possible, but Annie just cannot decide among them. A chance encounter with Christa McAuliffe (Annie's best friend's parents work for NASA) motivates Annie to take a road trip to see the Challenger launch. With her less-than-reliable dad and his handsome young friend, Annie sets out on an excursion that will end in tragedy and change. The novel paints a lovely portrait of a smart, strong, friendly McAuliffe. In fact, the author's background as a NASA engineer makes all of the scenes based at Johnson or Kennedy Space Center grounded and intriguing. Moss's descriptive language is almost poetic. When portraying Annie's life, however, the prose is less elegant. Annie has trouble articulating her confusion about her future, even to herself, and readers are told over and again that she is insecure and socially inept. This slows the book down, and, instead of authentic voices, it's the author's that comes through. Back matter includes a chronology of Christa McAuliffe's life and a bibliography concerning the Challenger.—Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT
Set in 1985, Moss's novel juxtaposes eighteen-year-old Annie's self-exploration with the Challenger's final mission to outer space. Following her idol Christa McAuliffe, Annie travels to view the launch while reflecting on her own aspirations (i.e., becoming a poet). Annie's self-doubts get repetitive, but Moss's weaving of a real-world event into a fictional story, while not perfectly executed, is engaging. Bib.
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