In celebration of World Space Week, whose theme this year is Mars exploration, Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announces the North American release of MISSION: MARS, a new nonfiction children’s book for readers in grades 4 through 6* (ages 9–12) by renowned Mars scientist Dr. Pascal Lee. This exciting book is available exclusively through Scholastic Reading Club throughout October and at bookstores nationwide starting November 1, 2013. MISSION: MARS (ISBN 978-0-545-56532-5) provides an in-depth look at what it will take to get us to Mars, and how we’ll explore that world once we get there. For more information, go to scholastic.com/missionmars.
Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin shared this praise for the book: “Pascal Lee is a true pioneer of Mars exploration. This book makes me want to put on a space suit and go to Mars!”
MISSION: MARS provides readers a training guide for this century’s most daring undertaking in space – a human mission to Mars by 2035. Author Dr. Pascal Lee takes young readers behind the scenes to learn about work being done at NASA and elsewhere to get humans ready for Mars. Each page provides unique scientific and technical facts and trivia, from Mars’ seven natural wonders, to areas on Earth that mimic the terrain of Mars, to conceptual drawings of tomorrow’s Mars ships, spacesuits, Mars habitats, and human-piloted rovers. To engage readers even further, MISSION: MARS draws from Dr. Lee’s own “field notes” and provides imaginative images, “training drills” and detailed infographics to convey the challenge and wonder of journeying to Mars.