Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars by Ellen MacGregor

The book does stick to the basics: food and beverages in tubes, no atmosphere in space, physical differences between Mars and Earth, elliptical orbits and maneuvering between them and using gravity to your advantage.Īlthough Miss Pickerell doesn't have the sort of training as the men she ends up flying to Mars with, she does have the sense to listen to them and the smarts to adapt. It accomplishes this mostly by avoiding discussion of how the equipment works and by the sheer brevity of the work (only 124 pages). She accidentally replaces the last astronaut, a man who is great at astrophysics but lousy at remembering day to day things like addresses.ĭespite the goofy set up, the novel ends up being 'harder' science fiction than the two similarly aged Tintin adventures: Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. Unfortunately for the mission, she has actually been on vacation visiting her niece and nephew and has just returned in time for the launch. Her apparently abandoned farm is chosen as the perfect place for a covert government launch. Now as the title implies, Miss Pickerell is the one going to Mars, not the Martians coming to her farm. Her pose and the general set up of the cover reminds me of one of my favorite Backyardigans episodes 'Ranch Hands from Outer Space.' With that tenuous connection I chose the book to read. The cover here shows a typical mid-west farm woman standing gobsmacked before a 1950s style rocket ship.

Buttonhouse I was drawn to the book by Paul Galdone's cover illustration. The other one is her delightful picture book Mr. Ex-Library.Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars is the first of the Miss Pickerell series of books and the second Ellen MacGregor book I've read. SHE GOES TO Mars quite against her wishes & the wishes of members of rocket ship Crew, but she proves herself equal to any emergency, science fiction story for the 8-12 readers. As she led her cow out to graze behind her little house she thought happily about the rest they were both going to have. She had had an overdose of noise and confusion. It is an ex-library edition with some marks & stickers & Library Pocket, Scuffing btm cvr edge, Back DJ Lists 5 Titles, Miss Pickerell was mighty glad to come home from her vacation. HBDJ, 1951, 1st edition, with #1 Intact number line copyright pg which reads 32 - MAMM -76543210 & ISBN 07-045560-5, Ex library book with all the usual markings, VG/VG, AS-IS, Grey cloth with black rocket ship on front & Tape residue on Edges & Number 44560 on back Cvr, DJ light rub, wear tiny chips tears extremities & sticker on spine DJ, DJ protected clear Mylar, 128 pgs, Interior relatively Nice, tight clean, This book is in Vgood condition with some wear here and there.

Miss Pickerell Goes to Mars by Ellen MacGregor