Non-fiction children's space flight stuff 1945-1975.
Part 2 of the punch out books I wanted to share. Part 1 was Quick's Flying Saucers and Rocket Ships (blogged on July 31, 2026). Capt. Quick’s Space Patrol was the other punch out book issued at the same time. Probably the same artist but totally different designs. Between the two, a child had a complete set of masks, space guns, rocket ships, and space port facilities. (Sorry for the awkward…
A couple of rare (ish) punch-out books from 1953. I had tried to find copies for a while but finally it cam together. I really like the space graphics and the space helmet on the back. I also want my own "Robot Man" mask to wear. Lots of cool space toys. Jones, Jim and Virdone, Paul. Quick's Flying Saucers and Rocket Ships . (vol 2 is Capt. Quick’s Space Patrol .) (10 p.) 1953.
I enjoyed the space art in this book. It is a nice background for these fictional space adventures. Bleep and Booster was a beloved children's animated sci-fi series featured on the BBC's Blue Peter from 1963 to 1977. The story followed the galactic adventures of Bleep, an alien boy from the planet Miron, and Booster, an adventurous young human boy. Originally shown on the BBC's Blue Peter. A…
This comic is a promotional comic from Buster Brown shoes. If you went into a shoe store and tried on Buster Brown shoes you would get a comic book with the name of the store stamped/printed on it. Buster Brown (and his dog Tige) were a feature of 1950s and 1960s shoe store. In this case Buster goes to Mars and tames a space dog. But of course the adult at home doesn't believe him even though the…
Sorry for the sporadic postings, I should have some lined up for the next couple of months. Mostly there will be comic book premiums and punch out books. To start how about "Flashlights in Space...!" This was a comic premium from Ray-O-Vac batteries company. There was not much story except how their flashlight help defeat the bad guy and get them safely back to Earth. I do enjoy the flashlight…
In the Fall of 1968 the launch of Apollo 7 was imminent. High School students were given a breakdown of what was to come after the launch was delayed because of the Apollo 1 disaster. What do you think about spending money for space work?
Celebrating 2,883,898 views of my Dreams of Space site today. I started this Blog in Feb of 2009 so now it is over 17 years old. (Drinking party next year!) My first "space" book in Arabic. I am pretty sure that it was more for adults and from the illustrations may be a translation of a Russian book. It still fascinates me that spaceflight is so knew that people published space books for the…
Here is an issue of Current Events. I think this was a weekly newspaper for high school students (an advanced version of My Weekly Reader.) In this issue they discuss "Why should we go to the Moon?" and how much it might cost. I lived through this time (although I was about 4 years old) but I never heard about Kennedy suggesting we cooperate with the Russians to get to the Moon. (I guess I need to…
Sixty years ago in 1963 we were looking ahead to Mars and Venus. Secord graders got an insight into what we might explore beyond the Moon.
Something old about a trip to the Moon. Celebrating trying another trip to the Moon here is a non-fiction story from 1948. Stuck in an obscure comic book it tells the story of spaceflight to come. True Comics. No. 80, December 1948. ( “Rocket Trip to the Moon” p. 10-15.) Chicago: Parent’s Magazine Press. 28 p. 1948. "So that one day, soon, air-line announcers will call out flights going East,…
As I work through odds and ends to scan I have an anthology of children's science fiction. It is actually the 141 page section of Volume 16 of the 16 volume anthology called The Children's Hour . It is rare to see anthology like this. I chose to select some illustration to share. I will tell you the title of the story and the artist (if available). Science Fiction & Readers Guide . (Volume 16, The…
I like the title "The Moon is in Our Space Plans". This issue had more information for 2nd graders about America's plans to go to the Moon. We will go "Before 1970."
I continue with my history of the space race week by week through the eyes of My Weekly Reader. Both of these are from the 2nd grader edition. Even without anything new to say My Weekly Reader kept feeding the 2nd graders space race content. I actually had not heard of the Anna satellite before I read this. From Wikipedia: ANNA 1B (acronym for "Army, Navy, NASA, Air Force") was a United States…
This was a promotional comic from Borden's dairy staring their mascot Elsie the Cow. It contains 16 pages of "Space-Fun, Games, Puzzles, Cut-Outs." Their is not much story but it was illustrated well. I choose to included the whole comic for your pleasure. A Trip Through Space with Elsie the Cow. (Borden promotional comic) The Borden Co. 16 pg. 1957.
As I fill in with a few more Weekly Readers. Several books that I hoped would arrive have not appeared so I will continue with these charming snapshots of childhood in the space age. I like this very simple approach to explaining John Glenn's voyage to children in the 1st grade. I also this approach to explaining what all the news about Telstar might mean to a 1st grader.
Nov 16, 1959
Oct 12, 1959 Another My Weekly Reader today. How is your 2026 going for you? This issue talks about the development of the Mercury capsule and the Russians sending a rocket to impact on the Moon. Finally a quiz about what you (and the child) read.
March 3, 1958 Happy New Year's! I picked up a set of My Weekly Reader so I thought I would share some with you as I have a chance to scan them. Some of these are from My Weekly Reader Picture Reader. This was the version for 1st graders. The next is from the My Weekly reader Summer Cruise. This was for older children. June 8, 1959 The article is not about imaginary flying saucers but rather how…
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas! I am doing this post back in June 2025 so I am hoping the world is a happier and safer place in December 2025. It has been a little while since I found a book worth of a Christmas post. This one does not have a lot of spaceships or rockets. It was a giveaway at Ben Franklin Dept. stores. It is the story of a Martian who wants to find out what Christmas is and…
Occasonally you pick up a book only for its cover. I agree there is no space flight content in Let's Pretend but the cover and the title page are spcial. They capture the dream of being in space and how some of us used to put on our space costume and create our visionary personal stories. The book is about the occupations childen can dream of and the joy they get in thinking anything is possible.…
So to keep up with my strange postings, today is strange (bad?) space poetry. I like the drawings that are VERY late 60s with spacecraft and other images mixed together. I also like his approach to using our Space Race as an inspiration to think about what people had done and what they might do. Your mileage may vary :) At least I can safely assume you have never seen this before. Roberts,…
Today is the Cantonese translation of the book All About Satellites and Space Ships , David Dietz (1958). The Cantonese is translated for me by Google Translate so I apologize for the mistakes. I am always looking for these children's books that got translated into other languages. This one is interesting to me since it seem like the children's level material is represented as a way for children…
A bit of obscure ephemera today. In 1940 the Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia had a program they called " To the Moon by Rocket Ship ." It was a program for adults and children describing the science of what it would be like to go to the Moon. It also explored the formation of craters (thought volcanic at the time.) They also sold this souvenir booklet of the program. So from a hot summer night…
Sugar Jets Cereal! More sugar than your body needs in easy bite-sized bits. Sugar Jets cereal was introduced in 1953, but here is a 1954 box. Its mascot for years was Major Jet. I have collected a bunch of ads, premiums, and comic strips about this cereal since I loved the "space age" design. So here is my collection so far. I do have to recommend this 1958 Sugar Jets commercial for its space age…
I am not really scraping the bottom of the barrel as much as taking the time to post the most obscure stuff in my space book collection. I collected almost any pre 1980 children's book about spaceflight. I preferred the non-fiction but picked up some strange fiction and comics along the way. (Giant carrots from the Moon anyone?) So Mournful Mouse and The Space Trip is part of a series of books.…