We Dream of Space

The 1986 Challenger shuttle explosion. I remember exactly where I was - at home - and what I was doing - living my everyday young person’s life.

This is the setting for the three siblings in this novel, which I could not put down. Like me, the characters have to process the reality of the explosion right alongside doing homework, squabbling with each other, and watching sitcoms.

I love how the kids end up much more resilient without any heavy-handed messaging from the author. And the ’80s details are the best!

I am a total space nerd. A shortcut to NASA’s exoplanet site is pinned to my toolbar.

I also vividly remember hearing the news of the Challenger disaster in my elementary school cafeteria. (It happened to be my best friend’s birthday. Not a fun coincidence for her.) So it wouldn’t have taken much to hook me on this book about three siblings whose school is following the historic mission.

Ms. Salonga, the middle school science teacher whose enthusiasm sparks both curiosity and courage in her students, is an added bonus. She reminded me of a teacher who inspired my love… show more.

I was gutting part of an old house when the radio announced the Space Shuttle Challenger’s explosion. Suddenly, I was gutted too. This devastating historical event offers an emotional center to a sensitively-told tale of a family experiencing a more insidious kind of destruction. The three Nelson Thomas siblings orbit elliptically around endlessly bickering parents. Cash isn’t good at anything, Fitch’s temper is growing hard to control, and quiet Bird is the family’s logic board. As her science class counts down together to the shuttle launch, Bird hatches dreams of going to space herself someday. My favorite part of this… show more.

I couldn't put the book down once I met Bird and her brothers, Fitch and Cash. I loved the passion with which 7th-grade teacher Mrs. Salonga prepared her classes for the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The novel brought back all the sadness of that event. I relived it with the characters from their unique perspectives as they watched the shuttle fall out of the sky. The book won numerous awards, including a Newbery Honor. What an emotional and satisfying read! 

We Dream of Space is set in the month leading up to the Challenger disaster. The three main characters are siblings navigating their own troubles while their parents constantly fight. Each chapter is told from either Cash, Bird, or Fitch’s perspective. The siblings don’t seem to have a lot in common, besides their science teacher, Ms. Salonga, whose lessons center on the Challenger shuttle launch. When it seems like the siblings have lost themselves, and lost each other, they come together in the face of the tragedy. The story is layered with science. And the undeniable bond between Cash, Bird,… show more.