This book was a trigger for bringing the wonder of space travel and exploration to my son, along with laying out the possibility that one day he might be a part of it – should he choose to.

The book is non-fiction – it’s the real story of the Mars Rover called Opportunity (nicknamed “Oppy”) that landed on Mars for a three month mission but operated there for nine years! By the end of the story, Oppy gets stuck in a large storm, resulting in its batteries getting drained. It ends leaving the reader with the thought that Oppy will remain asleep until one day someone, maybe the reader, comes to save it.

There are sooo many books about space and exploration, but this one achieves a hard feat of mixing real facts, beautiful drawings, a human story, and inspiration and wonder into a book that actually had an impact on my children.

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Hello Opportunity: The Story of Our Friend on Mars by Shaelyn McDaniel