For the past eight years I have produced a children's picture book to give out as Christmas gifts to all of my families. I had promised a story for each of my children, as least one in which they shared a prominent role. Then I did a couple of my own stories from when I was young. Then I wrote one about my mother's mother and then one about my mother's sister. (My mom has been in several of the stories.) Now, I have decided to write up a storybook about my Father, well, actually, I have decided to feature one of his stories that the grandchildren all loved, but let him tell it from within the story.
My dad's favorite subject was SPACE. Because my dad Thomas W. Lee was a research physicist at NASA during the Apollo program (1963-1970), he got a front row seat to the latest and greatest goings on in the Space Program. His science was hypervelocity impact physics. He built guns that could shoot very small particles at tremendous speeds to test what happened upon impact. They tested all sorts of materials that would be used to cover the space vehicles and even the space suits.
My dad's team was tasked with providing protection for the astronauts. The materials used would have to repel or absorb the meteorites so that holes in the outer cladding would not destroy the atmosphere created inside the spaceship or spacesuits.
I loved asking my dad to come to school for my "Show and Tell." He brought all kinds of cool stuff to show and when he told about something, he could really tell a wonderful story to go with it. He even had little sample squares of all of the insulating layers of the spacesuit. That was cool.
My dad's team was tasked with providing protection for the astronauts. The materials used would have to repel or absorb the meteorites so that holes in the outer cladding would not destroy the atmosphere created inside the spaceship or spacesuits.
I loved asking my dad to come to school for my "Show and Tell." He brought all kinds of cool stuff to show and when he told about something, he could really tell a wonderful story to go with it. He even had little sample squares of all of the insulating layers of the spacesuit. That was cool.
The story I am writing is about how my dad told stories. As far back as I can remember, Dad would take us outside on a starry summer night, throw out a blanket, hand out the treats, and tell us about the stars. Somehow, I always woke up in my own bed in the morning.
Over the years, I learned that my dad would just talk and talk until everybody fell asleep. Then he'd just stop. (I guess he also had to carry us into bed.) In my retelling, he doesn't have to heft kids around. Several of the grandkids are at a Cousin's Campout with Grandpa Tom and their dads up in the canyon. If they all fall asleep, they are already in their sleeping beds.
The story my dad told on those campouts was "Johnny in the Moon." But until recently, those older grandkids remembered hearing Grandpa Tom tell the story, they remembered they loved it, but no one could remember for sure the ending.
This picture book is an attempt to put in writing (for a younger audience) the story complete with the ending.
Over the years, I learned that my dad would just talk and talk until everybody fell asleep. Then he'd just stop. (I guess he also had to carry us into bed.) In my retelling, he doesn't have to heft kids around. Several of the grandkids are at a Cousin's Campout with Grandpa Tom and their dads up in the canyon. If they all fall asleep, they are already in their sleeping beds.
The story my dad told on those campouts was "Johnny in the Moon." But until recently, those older grandkids remembered hearing Grandpa Tom tell the story, they remembered they loved it, but no one could remember for sure the ending.
This picture book is an attempt to put in writing (for a younger audience) the story complete with the ending.
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