Facing your fears is never easy to do. Imagine what it would be like to be a chef who is afraid of knives, or a doctor who has a fear of needles. In this clever picture book biography you will meet a little boy who loves to pretend that he is an astronaut and who is fascinated by space. Perhaps he even dreams of going up into space one day. There is a problem though; the little boy is afraid of the dark.
The Darkest Dark
The Darkest Dark
Chris Hadfield
Illustrated by the Fan Brothers
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Tundra Books, 2017, 978-1-101-91862-3
Chris loves pretending that he is an astronaut. In fact,
he is often so busy flying around in his cardboard rocket, saving the planet
from aliens or visiting Mars, that he has a hard time making time for baths and
bedtime. After all “An astronaut’s work is never done,” and they don’t like
wasting time on sleep. The problem is that Chris’ parents do like to sleep and so they are not best pleased when Chris climbs
into bed with them. Nor are they too thrilled when he tells them that the
darkness in his room is the kind that “attracts the worst sorts of aliens.”
Some parents
might give in at this point and let their son sleep with them, but Chris’
parents are putting their feet down. Chris will get over his fear of the dark
and he will sleep in his own bed. They check to make sure that his room is “100
percent alien free,” they turn on his night light, and they even give him a
bell to ring if he gets nervous. Then they take the bell away.
Chris is then
told that he needs to stop his fooling around because if he doesn’t he will not
be able to attend the special event that is going to take place at their
neighbor’s house the next day. Being able to go next door the next day is so
important to Chris that he stays in his bed, and after a long time he falls
asleep. What Chris does not know yet is that his experiences the next day will
change how he feels about the dark, and it will influence the choices that he
makes in his life in the future.
Written by the
first Canadian astronaut to walk in space, this wonderful picture book shows
young readers how a single event can change ones perspective and even change
one’s life. In Chris’ case what he saw that on that special night at his
neighbor’s house planted the seed of a dream in his heart, and it was a dream
that he never gave up on. He worked hard until the day came when he finally got
his chance to go into space.
At the back of
the book young readers will find further information about Chris Hadfield. They
can also read a message from Chris, and see photos of him when he was a little
boy and when he was an adult working in space at the International Space
Station.
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