History Comics: The Challenger Disaster: Tragedy in the Skies

by Pranas T. Naujokaitis

Overview

Let this graphic novel be your time machine! In History Comics, the new nonfiction graphic novel series from First Second, the past comes alive!

In History Comics: The Challenger Disaster, we turn the clock back to January 28, 1986. Seven astronauts boarded the space shuttle Challenger on what would be a routine mission. All eyes and cameras were on crew member Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher, who was set to become the first private citizen in space. Excitement filled the air as the clock counted down to liftoff. But at T-plus seventy-three seconds after launch, the unthinkable happened . . .

What caused the midair explosion? In Pranas T. Naujokaitis's imaginative tale, set in a far-off future, a group of curious kids investigate the hard questions surrounding the Challenger explosion. Inspired by the legacy and sacrifice of the Challenger seven, they continue in their footsteps, setting out toward the stars and into the great unknown!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250174307
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	10/27/2020
Series:	History Comics
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	159,173
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	9 - 13 Years

About the Author

Pranas T. Naujokaitis is a cartoonist whose work ranges from all-age comics to slice-of-life autobio to handcrafted minicomics. His comic Laffy Meal was nominated for an Ignatz Award for Best Minicomic. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two cats.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/01/2020

Gr 4–6—A catastrophe that occurred in 1986 is ancient history to young people today, but Naujokaitis finds a way to make the Challenger explosion seem immediate by framing the story as a report delivered by a quartet of fifth graders (one boy is white, another boy is brown-skinned, the two girls are brown-skinned, and one of the girls wears a headscarf) living on an orbiting space platform in 2386. Using a mix of artifacts and virtual reality, the students tour the Challenger, "interview" each member of its last crew about their work and backgrounds, witness the shuttle's destruction shortly after launch (the teacher, who is white, wisely takes over narrative duties for this part), and follow maverick scientist/celebrity Richard Feynman as he battles NASA bureaucrats to lead an investigation into the causes of the explosion. In contrast to more conventional treatments of the incident, this title offers not only a distinct sense of each doomed astronaut's personality (Christa McAuliffe: "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on!") but also a broader understanding of what the tragedy can teach us about our determination to forge on exploring space. Cutaway views and close-ups of spacecraft parts enhance the more technical parts of the discourse, and in the cartoon-style sequential panels the students' natural-sounding dialogue and banter, along with their broad expressions of fascination, boredom, excitement, terror, and sadness, add life and drama to the tale. "We keep going!" as one student puts it in an eloquent summation. VERDICT Definitely a "go" for middle grade readers, artfully incorporating a solid payload of information within a well-developed frame story.—John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York

School Library Journal

A Junior Library Guild selection

"Definitely a “go” for middle grade readers, artfully incorporating a solid payload of information within a well-developed frame story."—School Library Journal, starred review

"A well-researched, idealistic tribute."—Kirkus

"[...] in turns funny, moving, elucidating, and riveting [...]"—Horn Book

From the Publisher

2020-09-01
In the distant future, a diverse classroom spends a day giving presentations about the tragic and still relevant accident of the space shuttle Challenger.

It’s “Challenger Day” on the fictional Space Station Sagan, exactly 400 years after Challenger’s 1986 explosion. The kids on Sagan, drawn with cartoon-style big heads and wide-eyed expressions, sound like today’s middle schoolers but use holo-pads and virtual reality instead of paper and projectors. Fatima, who is brown-skinned and wears a hijab, presents first, showing labeled diagrams of the shuttle and its flight path. The presentation assumes knowledge of aerospace terms such as propellant and thrust; classmate Chris, also dark-skinned, might be speaking for many readers when he exclaims, “I feel like you gotta be some sort of rocket scientist to understand all this!” He then introduces the class to holographic projections of the Challenger crew, who cheerfully—and quite eerily—explain their backgrounds and give the 24th-century kids a chance to decry racism as “hatred” that no longer exists. Next, the teacher, who presents White, goes over the events of the launch in the most straightforward, evocative, and beautifully designed and illustrated part of the book. Max, a White-presenting student, describes the investigation into the accident, lionizing Richard Feynman without mentioning his sexism. Carmen, who has light-brown skin, waxes lyrical about space and other pioneers who faced “setbacks” but “kept going.” The facts are there, seen through rosy lenses.

A well-researched, idealistic tribute. (introduction, afterword, additional facts) (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews