Man On The Moon (A Day in the Life of Bob)

Man on the Moon (A Day In The Life of Bob)

by Simon Bartram

Candlewick Press, 2002

“Man on the Moon” is a science fiction picture book that depicts Bob’s daily job to be taking care of the moon. He wakes up every morning to fly to the moon for work, clean it up, and present moon facts to the tourists that come by. He knows there are no aliens on the moon; promises there are no aliens on the moon, yet the bright and colorful pictures say otherwise. He always has lunch with his friends from other planets who have the same job that he does, just on Mars or Saturn instead of the moon.

This is a great book to read to students when doing a unit on the moon or the planets. They talk about how Bob explains to tourists Moon facts, like how many craters there are. This would be something that students might want to research, or would be so excited if they already knew. Students can also talk about how long it takes to get to the moon..is it realistic that Bob can fly there every morning and come home every evening? Students can look up and see how long it actually would take to fly to the moon.

The illustrations are very colorful and realistic. Often times, the text and pictures contradict themselves. Bob continuously talks about how there are no aliens on the moon, yet little aliens are on almost every page. Some of the pages are also just pictures with no text, which can allow students to expand on what they think is going on in the story.