Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth's gravitational sphere of influence, and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing and then returned to Earth. These three astronauts—Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders—were the first humans to see and photograph the far side of the Moon and an Earthrise.
William Alison Anders was an American United States Air Force (USAF) major general, electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, the first three people to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, he circled the Moon ten times, and broadcast live images and commentary back to Earth, including the Christmas Eve Genesis reading. During one of the mission's lunar orbits, he took the iconic Earthrise photograph.
Andrew L. Chaikin is an American author, speaker and science journalist. He lives in Vermont.
Suzanne Collins is an American author and television writer. She is best known as the author of the young adult dystopian book series The Hunger Games. She is also the author of the children's fantasy series The Underland Chronicles.
Deborah Hopkinson is an American writer of over seventy children's books, primarily historical fiction, nonfiction and picture books.
Earthrise is a photograph of Earth and part of the Moon's surface that was taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. Nature photographer Galen Rowell described it as "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken".
Jan Thomas is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. She lives in Socorro, New Mexico and has published three books with Harcourt Trade Publishers: What Will Fat Cat Sit On?, A Birthday for Cow, and The Doghouse; and three with Simon & Schuster's new children's imprint, Beach Lane Books, Can You Make a Scary Face?, Rhyming Dust Bunnies, Here Comes the Big Mean Dust Bunny!, and in September 2011, Is Everyone Ready for Fun?.
Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature."
Candace Groth Fleming is an American writer of children's books, both fiction and non-fiction. She is the author of more than twenty books for children and young adults, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize-honored The Family Romanov and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award-winning biography, The Lincolns, among others.
Courtney Summers is a Canadian writer of young adult fiction. Her most famous known works are Cracked Up to Be (2008), This Is Not a Test (2012), All the Rage (2015), and Sadie (2018).
Cecelia Carolina Bell is an American author, cartoonist, and illustrator. Most well known for her graphic novel El Deafo, Bell's work has appeared in The Atlantic, Vegetarian Times, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Working Woman, Esquire and many other publications.
Melissa Sweet is an American illustrator and writer of nearly 100 books for children and young readers.
First to the Moon: The Story of Apollo 8 is a 2018 documentary film about the second crewed spaceflight mission in the United States Apollo space program, which launched on December 21, 1968. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return safely to Earth. The film was released in December 2018 and has been screened at The Explorers Club in New York City, the Kansas Cosmosphere, and Arizona State University.
Martin W. Sandler is an American historian, writer and teacher, the author of more than 50 books about American history and photography. He won the 2019 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Chris Barton is an American author of children's books. His books has been included on numerous lists citing the best children's books of the year.
Rex Ogle is an American author and editor who has published more than 100 books, including those written under various pseudonyms, such as Trey King, Honest Lee, and Rey Terciero. In addition to writing and editing for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, Ogle has written a number of graphic novels and memoirs, including Free Lunch.
The Whydah: A Pirate Ship Feared, Wrecked, and Found is a 2017 nonfiction children's book by Martin W. Sandler about the Whydah, "a large, fast, and heavily armed slave ship", which was captured by pirates in 1716 and sunk shortly after. The ship was rediscovered on the ocean's floor in the 1980s, along with its tremendous riches. Throughout the book, Sandler discusses the pirates, led by Samuel Bellamy, "the causes and practices of piracy", including their "barbarous cruelty", as well as the more democratic nature of their culture.
The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure is a 2012 nonfiction children's book by American author Martin W. Sandler. The book explores the rescue of eight whaling ships trapped in the ice of the Arctic Ocean in the winter of 1897.
1919: The Year That Changed America is a 2019 non-fiction children's book by American author Martin W. Sandler. The book details various events from 1919, including the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, "which led to building code, municipal oversight, and corporate liability precedents", the Nineteenth Amendment's passing, racial tensions, the Red Scare, changing labor conditions, and the beginning of prohibition. Beyond discussing the events themselves, Sandler explain the long-standing impact of each in the United States.
Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese American During World War World Two is a 2013 non-fiction children's book by American writer and historian Martin W. Sandler. The book describes the lives of Japanese Americans before, during, and after their time in internment camps during World War II, as well as Japanese Americans who served in the United States military during the war.
