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Sally Ride

First Book would like to send our condolences to the friends and family of Sally Ride, the 1^st U.S. woman in space, who died of pancreatic cancer yesterday. In spite of being one of a very elite group of people who’ve been through the space program – and jettisoned into and back from space – she was extremely modest.  She was that person who had it all – left brain and right brain smarts.  In other words, an engineer who could also communicate.  She was a physicist who knew what mattered.  A woman who spent much of her post-space life supporting and encouraging students – especially girls, to study science, math and engineering through Sally Ride Science.

She will be missed.

In honor of Sally’s legacy, we wanted to share some books that are available on the First Book Marketplace that inspire an interest in space and science.

If you or someone you know works with kids in need and would like to get brand-new books, please register with First Book. 

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, has passed away. She was 61 years old.

In addition to her historic career as an astronaut, Ride helped write seven science books for kids, including: To Space and Back, Voyager; The Mystery of Mars and Mission Save the Planet. You can find all her books at this link. Here’s more from her biography:

In August 1979, after a yearlong training and evaluation period, Sally became eligible for assignment as an astronaut on a space shuttle flight crew. She was selected as a mission specialist for mission STS-7 aboard the shuttle Challenger. When Challenger blasted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 18, 1983, Sally soared into history as the first American woman in space. “The thing that I’ll remember most about the flight is that it was fun,” said Sally. “In fact, I’m sure it was the most fun I’ll ever have in my life.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Mission Planet Earth is written by Sally Ride and Tam O'Shaugnessy on one of those topics that is very close to my heart. I think that kids today really really really need to read as many books about saving our planet as possible, in order to truly understand what the future generations are facing in terms of conservation, energy use, and how we have broken our Planet Earth with our actions.

This book is a pretty basic introduction into what we as humans have done to the planet with our wastefulness, pollution, and overuse of natural resources. Parts read a bit technically, but for the most part, we get a clear overview of the issues. There are some pretty awesome (yet devastating) photographs that accompany the text and further explain the need to take some serious action when it comes to the planet.

Before seeing this book I had no idea that Sally Ride, the first woman in space, had written books! Apparently she's written a few others as well, but I was pretty impressed with this one. A very nice addition to libraries.

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Mission Planet Earth
Sally Ride and Tam O'Shaugnessy
80 pages
Non-Fiction
Roaring Brook Press (Flash Point)
9781596433106
March 2009