Mournful Mouse and the Space Trip (1963)

 

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. This was the only one about rockets or space. It was the author's self-published effort. The two sizes of type on each page are odd. It seems (to our modern eyes) THAT THE OTHER VOICE IS YELLING.

A simple story: a mouse boy finds a sky rocket, accidently gets launched to the Moon, and makes it home for the picnic (with a stomach-ache.)

I do not understand the Mournful Mouse character either.

Schmock, Helen H. Illustrated by Schmock, Helen H. Mournful and The Space Trip. (The Adventures of Mournful Mouse, Book 3.) Ludington, MI: J & H Publishing. (16 p.) 1963. 

Robert Goddard: Father of the Space Age (1963)

 

After a Thanksgiving break I am back with Robert Goddard: Father of the Space Age.  Even if there are not a lot of illustrations of space flight this book was very important to me at the time. I remember finding it in the school library and then getting my own paperback copy through the Scholastic Book Club. It was retitled:  Rocket Genius. It is a basic biography of one of the early American rocket pioneers. He essentially developed the first American liquid fueled rockets. While his worked was not embraced at the time it ended up being important in World War 2. So it made sense to introduce Space Age children to one of the earliest rocket scientists.

Verral, Charles Spain. Illustrated by Frame, Paul. Robert Goddard: Father of the Space Age. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (80 p.) 1963.

Here are a few illustrations from the book:

The Hero's Ride (1963)

 

This was a reprint of a 1961 Russian book translated into Estonian in 1963.  It is mostly an anthology of stories for children but with space art on the cover and a couple of space illustrations within I needed to share it.

Jarunkova, Klara. Illustrated by Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. Translated by A. Raid.  The Hero's Ride. Tallinn: Estonia. (90 p.) 1963.

I think the translated title is : "To the Moon with A Rocket. " It seems to be about a a boy and his friend and his dog who want to go to the moon (since they are bored after school.)

This one is from "A New Space Plan." It is about a journey to Mars and how we will bring them gifts from Earth.

New Treasury for Young Readers (1963)

 

More or less a "housekeeping" post today. I wanted to scan this book after finding the other one just for balance. Some fine illustration is a lost bit of space flight for children.

New Treasury for Young Readers. Reader’s Digest. Pleasantville, NY. Reader’s Digest Association. (200 p.) 1963.  

Lift-off: The Story of Rocket Power (1963)

 

A very nice 1963 book about rocket propulsion. It was written for the "little engineer" and has some very nice illustrations of the construction of rockets.

Coombs, Charles. Illustrated by Foor, R. H. Lift-off: The Story of Rocket Power. New York: William Morrow and Co. (96 p.) 1963.