A Newbery Honor Book • BookPage Best Books • Chicago Public Library Best Fiction • Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee • Horn Book Fanfare • New York Times Notable Children’s Book • School Library Journal Best Book • Today Show Pick • An ALA Notable Book “A 10 out of 10 . . . Anyone interested in science, sibling relationships, and friendships will enjoy reading We Dream of Space.”—Time for Kids Newbery Medalist and New York Times–bestselling author Erin Entrada Kelly transports readers to 1986 and introduces them to the unforgettable Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas in this pitch-perfect middle grade novel about family, friendship, science, and exploration. This acclaimed Newbery Honor Book is a great choice for readers of Kate DiCamillo, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Rebecca Stead. Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together in Park, Delaware. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties. Cash, who loves basketball but has a newly broken wrist, is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time. Fitch spends every afternoon playing Major Havoc at the arcade on Main and wrestles with an explosive temper that he doesn’t understand. And Bird, his twelve-year-old twin, dreams of being NASA’s first female shuttle commander, but feels like she’s disappearing. The Nelson Thomas children exist in their own orbits, circling a tense and unpredictable household, with little in common except an enthusiastic science teacher named Ms. Salonga. As the launch of the Challenger approaches, Ms. Salonga gives her students a project—they are separated into spacecraft crews and must create and complete a mission. When the fated day finally arrives, it changes all of their lives and brings them together in unexpected ways. Told in three alternating points of view, We Dream of Space is an unforgettable and thematically rich novel for middle grade readers. We Dream of Space is illustrated throughout by the author.

We Dream of Space

Three siblings face their middle school problems as they learn about space.

Bring family members together who are determined to drift apart. The variety of formats in comprehension questions and vocabulary help students better interact with the novel. Predict how Bird’s science team will get along as the project continues. Think of a time when you regretted something you did and what impact your actions had on the other person. Identify statements about the sibling’s lives as true or false. Describe how the family reacts to Bird after the Challenger disaster. Write your own astrogram to potential life forms outside of Earth. Record traits of an astronaut on the provided outline. Traits should include skills and personality. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: We Dream of Space takes place in 1986 and uses the Challenger disaster as a backdrop. Focusing on the Nelson family, brothers Cash, Fitch, and sister Bird describe their struggles at school and at home. Cash is the oldest and wants to be on the basketball team. Due to his poor grades, Cash is removed from the team, and now has to search for something else he is good at. Fitch has a temper. He has a hard time keeping it in control. When a girl in his class gets a crush on him, he explodes and humiliates her. Bird is Fitch’s twin sister. She is studious and hopes to be the first female shuttle commander. Her hopes and dreams are crushed when she witnesses the events of the Challenger disaster. The three siblings struggle at home, where their parents argue all the time. The family acts as planets drifting around each other in their own orbits.

We Dream of Space - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6

We Dream Of Space

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We Dream of Space - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6

We Dream of Space - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6

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