Thorndike Press large print striving reader collection

Winner of the 2021 Newbery honor book award

"Cash, Fitch, and Bird Thomas are three siblings in seventh grade together. In 1986, as the country waits expectantly for the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger, they each struggle with their own personal anxieties. Cash is in danger of failing seventh grade for the second time. Fitch 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. As the launch of the Challenger approaches, their teacher gives her students a project -- they are separated into spacecraft crews and must complete a mission. When the fated day finally arrives, it changes all of their lives and brings them together in unexpected ways."--Back cover

"Family is a complicated galaxy."--Cover