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Shanghaied To The Moon by Michael J. Daley
01/02/2007 . Source: Sue Davies 
Pub: Penguin Young Readers. 249 page hardback. Price: $16.99 (US). ISBN: 978-0-399-24619-7. Buy Shanghaied To The Moon in the USA - or Buy Shanghaied To The Moon in the UK  check out website: www.penguin.com/youngreaders
A good old-fashioned adventure story for the new age of techno-freaks. This has everything including a mysterious stranger, overbearing and intrusive government agencies and post-traumatic stress.
Stuart Edward Hale just wants to join the Space Academy. He will be old enough on his 13th birthday but somehow he can't crack the Astro Nav knowledge he needs. Then there is the little problem of his Dad not wanting him to go. If only his Mom were alive but she died in a shuttle disaster as he stood on the ground watching her come into land. No wonder his Dad is reluctant to let him become a Spacer.
It's all Stuart wants, so when he meets a mysterious stranger who suggests he could crew with him to the Moon, he is intrigued. Before Stuart is able to think straight, he is on his way. But what is the stranger's real mission and will it kill Stuart to find out?
I know I am not the intended age group but this book overcame my natural motherly 'keep my child safe' tendencies and got my adrenaline racing. I only hope that it has the same effect on all the kids who read it. This is a good old-fashioned boys (or girl's) own adventure with lots of technology, a frisson of fear and some delicate playing with human emotions. It is a short novel but keeps up the pace well with that good old-fashioned page-turning tendency.
You could be picky about the plot and say this is not a new one but it's an old twist on a tale of derring-do with an added modern sensibility. This has hard science, the accuracy of which I have to leave to others. Perhaps it's enough to push a child into engineering or into space. No dream should be too large and we should encourage them to dream big.
I sometimes think I am easy to please but at other times I think I am just lucky to get to read some stonking good books that thrill and intrigue me. This is a book that would have got my heart pounding as a kid and so what-the-hell, be a kid again!
Sue Davies
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