T-Minus: The Race to the Moon by Jim Ottaviani, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon

T-Minus: The Race to the Moon by Jim Ottaviani, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon

This is the space race between Russia and the United States from the early 1900s until the moon landing, thoroughly researched and distilled into a gripping 60-year story. The story skillfully depicts triumphs and tragedies of scientific breakthroughs and failures. Sidebars add extra information, and suspenseful countdown tells the reader how much time is left until the big moment: first in years, then in days, and finally in seconds. End matter includes some primary sources and and extensive bibliography.

Appeal: Science, the space race, Russia, history, United States. middle school plus

Art: Realistic, understated. Black and white with a rigid panel structure. 

Text: Dense, expository, informative

Other: Writer Jim Ottaviani has written several other non-fiction graphic novels, including Feynman, Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow and the Science of Love, and Suspended in Language: Niels Bohr's Life, Discoveries, and the Century He Shaped.  Artists Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon have illustrated several other non-fiction graphic novels, including Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth and The Stuff of Life.

Awards: Ottaviani won a Xeric Foundation award in 1997 for his work Two-Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists.

Ottaviani, Jim, Zander Cannon, and Kevin Cannon. T-minus: The Race To The Moon. New York : Aladdin, 2009. Print.