MAN ON THE MOON - Anastasia Suen

Writing a Small Poem

What’s the story? After years of hearing “No” when I sent out my book manuscripts, I heard “Yes” three times in three months! Hooray! I was going to be a published author at last. I was told that it usually took two years for a book to be published, so I kept writing new books and settled in for the long wait.

To my surprise, Man on the Moon, the book illustrated by the mother with a new baby, came out the following year! The 1997 cover (above) shows Neil Armstrong’s foot touching the moon. Five years later, the paperback came out with a new cover (below) and this version of the book is still in print today.

My father worked with NASA in the early days, so my goal was to tell this true (free verse) story to young readers like the ones I had taught in Kindergarten and first grade. I was quite pleased when it was reprinted in two classroom readers: one from Pearson Education and one from National Geographic.

Way back when, I did virtual school visits for classrooms that had read Man on the Moon in their readers. Now I’m doing them again because NASA is going *back* to the moon with Artemis. That’s my MOON story.

Now it’s your turn! What is your MOON story?

11 Comments

Linda Baie Posted on9:10 pm - May 4, 2023

I’m sorry that I’ve never seen your book, Anastasia! I love moon books & it is very exciting to think of this “return” being planned. My moon story – I just took a pic of the moon tonight, shining through the trees. It’s the full flower moon tomorrow night! And, I love hearing that your father worked for Nasa!

Margaret Simon Posted on4:19 am - May 5, 2023

I happen to have a great moon story that I shared this week with my second grade student who thought the “moon is boring.” I brought in an old cassette tape player with an even older cassette tape (“It’s fragile, so you cannot touch it.”) My father had tape recorded the moon landing from the TV broadcast that he woke us up to watch. (Back then you couldn’t record live TV.) It was a huge deal to him. He studied astrophysics until he died at 88. The recording is garbled but it’s there. My student was more mesmerized by the ancient tape deck, how you could press a button to eject and how the wheels turned to play the tape, than he was with the actual miracle of the landing on the moon. Yes, your book is still timely and needed. Thanks!

Linda M. Posted on5:03 am - May 5, 2023

oooooh. What a great question, ‘What’s your moon story?’ First, I love the illustrated free verse pages you’ve shown here. They are beautiful and so kid (and me) friendly. My moon story is that my grandfather was invited to work with NASA but declined. He worked with nuclear submarine program instead…not pretty but definitely lots of stories in there 🙂

Irene Latham Posted on5:09 am - May 5, 2023

Hi Anastasia! I love this story! And I love moon books. Now yours will be a friend for my newest, coming in August called THE MUSEUM ON THE MOON: CURIOUS OBJECTS ON THE LUNAR SURFACE. It’s a collection of 20 poems about things those Apollo astronauts left behind, like footsteps, golf balls, medals, falcon feather, hammer, and more! I have always been a NASA enthusiast, and me and my sibs dreamed we’d be like the kids on the Space Camp movie and accidentally find ourselves en route. 🙂

janice scully Posted on5:28 am - May 5, 2023

I put this book on my list TBR. So great that it was reprinted and continues to be read!

Dave Roller Posted on9:28 am - May 5, 2023

I have seen this book and I think I’ve read it. I didn’t know anything about the Artemis project though. How exciting!

Laura Purdie Salas Posted on11:31 am - May 5, 2023

What a great story–and to have your book still in print is amazing! My dad worked for NASA from before I was born until he retired when I was 20 or so. We got to watch some Space Shuttle launches (or possible launches). The idea of going to the moon or anywhere else in space fills me with awe. I wrote my own moon book (IF YOU WERE THE MOON), too. I think your book should be in a lovely set with mine, Irene’s, and Melissa Stewart’s–who has a moon book coming out later this year!

Denise Krebs Posted on8:38 pm - May 5, 2023

Anastasia, wonderful! I love the Apollo mission story, as I was a child for this flight when Armstrong walked on the moon. Someone who finally touched it. I stood in line a long time once on a school field trip to see a moon rock (the size of an egg) in a glass case. It didn’t look like anything special, but it was a rock that Neil Armstrong picked up and brought back to Earth.

Rose Cappelli Posted on11:30 am - May 7, 2023

Congratulations on your wonderful book still going strong! I love the moon, too. In fact, I have two picture book manuscripts about the moon, one in rhyme and one in prose, that hopefully some day will meet up with yours, Irene’s, Laura’s, and Melissa’s. I remember watching the moon landing with my family. We were glued to the TV for such an historic event. I was almost 19, ready to start my sophomore year of college.

Mary Lee Posted on6:04 am - May 8, 2023

What a great backstory and what fun to have your book experiencing a rebirth of interest with the Artemis project!

PATRICIA J FRANZ Posted on7:50 am - May 8, 2023

“a new moon grows from one dark night” — that’s the opening line to a PB WIP I hope to query this year.
My son works with JPL on the Mars rovers. How fun to be able to write from such a personal place!