"The Book of Bok" (a book about a moon rock, by Neil Armstrong)

Book cover for "Bok's Giant Leap"

I got this book for my kids: "The Book of Bok: One Moon Rock's Journey Through Time and Space," by Neil Armstrong and Grahame Baker Smith. Looking for a link for this book online, it seems it has also been published under the title Bok's Giant Leap: One Moon Rock's Journey Through Time and Space. These appear to be the same book.

I think this book is great! It's the story of a moon rock, named Bok, which was picked up by Neil Armstrong and brought back to earth. It starts out 4.5 billion years ago, when a smaller planet collided with the earth and sent a lot of rock into space, which then came together and formed the moon. Then there was all kinds of volcanic activity on the moon, and then it cooled off, there was an asteroid strike, etc.

Meanwhile, life was developing on earth. In the oceans, and then amphibians came up on land, and then the dinosaurs- but Bok barely noticed them because the time of the dinosaurs was only 170 million years, just a blink compared to the billions of years Bok had already been sitting around on the moon. Then humans appeared on the earth- the book lists these specific people: Plato, Hypatia, Charles Darwin, Maria Mitchell, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and Bessie Coleman.

And then Neil Armstrong came in a rocket and picked up Bok and brought him back to the earth. You can go see him in a museum! (Okay I googled this and I didn't find anything about a moon rock at a museum that is specifically named Bok. But it *is* true that you can go see moon rocks without cute names that Armstrong and the other astronauts brought back.)

I love this; I think this is such a cool idea, taking the perspective of the moon, where the rocks just sat there and not much happened for billions of years. Most of the universe is rocks just sitting there with nothing happening for billions of years. 

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My son's opinion

Let's hear what my son, an actual child, has to say about this book.

Me: Do you like this book? I like this one.

Him: Nope

Me: Why not?

Him: [wanders off to look at a book about "Plants vs Zombies"]

Okay so I wasn't able to get an endorsement out of him.

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In conclusion, I love this book, and I think it's a good one to give to a kid if you want to teach them about space or the moon landings.

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Related:

"Priddy Explorers: Dinosaurs" (good dinosaur book for babies)

"The Case for Loving" (kids' book about Loving vs Virginia) 

"Good Night Sharks" (kids' book review)