We Dream of Space

By Erin Entrada Kelly

Three siblings face personal struggles as the Challenger launch looms, altering their lives forever.

4.1/5 Goodreads · 9,141 ratings

400 pages· 47,156 words· Est. 6 hour read-aloud

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Bookroo's summary

In 1986, siblings Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas navigate personal challenges in a tense household. Cash risks failing school, Fitch battles an explosive temper, and Bird dreams of commanding a NASA shuttle. As the Challenger launch approaches, their science teacher, Ms. Salonga, inspires them to dream beyond their struggles. When the fateful day arrives, it unites them in unexpected ways, forever changing their paths. Will they find their place in the universe, or remain lost in their own orbits?

From the publisher

It’s January 1986. The launch of the Challenger is just weeks away, and Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together in Park, Delaware.

Cash loves basketball, Dr. J, and a girl named Penny; he’s also in danger of failing seventh grade for a second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing Major Havoc at the arcade and wrestles with an explosive temper that he doesn’t understand. And Bird, his twelve-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander, but feels like she’s disappearing.

The Nelson Thomas siblings exist in their own orbits, circling a tense, crowded, and unpredictable household, dreaming of escape, dreaming of the future, dreaming of space. They have little in common except an enthusiastic science teacher named Ms. Salonga—a failed applicant to the Teacher in Space program—who encourages her students to live vicariously through the launch. Cash and Fitch take a passive interest, but Bird builds her dreams around it.

When the fated day arrives, it changes everything.

Awards

Newbery Honor (2021)

At a glance

Format
Pages: 400
Words: 47,156
Reading age: 8–12
Audience: Middle Grade
Lexile: ~720L

Themes & topics

Books about aeronautics, astronautics and space science Books about feelings and emotions Books about identity Books about friendship Books about self-esteem and self-reliance

For the grown-ups

The parent guide

What families may want to know

Every family reads differently. These are the concepts our editors noticed in this book — worth seeking out for some readers, worth knowing about for others. The list isn't exhaustive, but it's a spoiler-light head start.

Language

There is at least one instance of "God." The book also uses the word "explicit" to describe words the parents would be using as curse words.

Sex

The daughter explains that "all girls develop at different rates and it might be years until she starts her period and gets boobs." In the same conversation they talk about bras.

For readers who can't stop at one