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I Love You, Michael Collins

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I Love You, Michael Collins 
By Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018. 230 p.

It is 1969 and the world is collectively holding their breath as three astronauts prepare to launch into space and head for the moon. Ten-year-old Mamie’s class is given an assignment to write a letter to one of the three astronauts. All the girls choose to write to Neil Armstrong. All the boys choose to write to Buzz Aldrin. Mamie alone chooses to write to Michael Collins—the one who will get as close to the moon as possible but will never step foot on it. Her class thinks she is crazy. After the assignment is over, Mamie still writes letters to Michael Collins. She is worried about things that are happening in her life and she is worried about all the dangers that Michael Collins is about to face. This is a beautifully-written story about a girl who is trying to figure out who she is (although she does know she doesn’t want to be the same as everyone else just for the sake of being the same) while trying to figure out what is happening in her family and in the country (and soon to be space) all at the same time. This is one of those books that I started reading and then couldn’t stop thinking about. Give this to any kid who wants to be their own person, enjoys historical facts about the space race, or just loves a book about a couple of really well-written characters.
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