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Clear Skies

By (author) Jessica Scott Kerrin
Categories: Children’s / Teenage fiction: Historical fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction and true stories, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Discovery and exploration, Children’s / Teenage general interest: History and the past, Children’s / Teenage: General interest, Children’s / Teenage fiction: General fiction, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Work and society
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Hardcover : 9781773062402, 144 pages, August 2019
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Excerpt

The jarring music, which seemed to be coming from every direction at once, bounced off the vaulted ceiling and came down on Arno’s head. He felt as if the black theater walls were pressing in and the giant statues were in danger of toppling over, crushing those in the first row.

Arno gripped the armrests and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to catch his breath.

Please, no, he thought. Not now. Not a giant panic attack in front of all these people.

But it was happening. The dizziness, the tightness in his chest, the frantic thoughts of being trapped, of smothering.

When he braved a look at the screen, a colossal asteroid was hurtling toward him, end over end, symphony horns bellowing. It was deafening.

It was too much.

Description

It’s the summer of 1961, right in the midst of the US–Soviet space race, and eleven-year-old Arno is obsessed with everything to do with space. He has just one problem—Arno is claustrophobic. Instead of becoming an astronaut, Arno dreams of exploring the galaxies with powerful telescopes back on Earth. But when he learns more about observatories (who knew they were also small spaces?!), Arno fears that his dreams may explode like an extragalactic supernova.

Reviews

Clear Skies is a winning middle-grade novel which deals with both mental-health issues and the wonders of space exploration (along with a bit of 20th-century history) in an accessible, non-threatening manner.

- Quill and Quire

A quiet reminder that the stars are not out of reach, with work and well-timed help.

- Kirkus Reviews