Review: Going to the Moon by Lavie Tidhar

Dear Mr. Tidhar,

I’ve been struggling with how to review Going to the Moon for two weeks now. First, I’m a fan of yours, so I was predisposed to like it. But it’s hard to not like a children’s picture-style book with a mature language warning on the outside.

The tale of a little boy who wants to be an astronaut and the world that seems to want to crush those dreams makes this story win enough. But you didn’t leave it there, you went some place completely different with it. Jimmy doesn’t just have to deal with adults and kids smashing his plans, but his own brain functions slimming down his chances too.

Jimmy has Tourette’s. Sometimes, no matter how hard he tries words escape him and damage him and the people around him. Not only does this upset him, but it makes the people around him think he’s less.

This is where I love the book. My son is autistic and this year, especially he’s been overwhelmed by stress from adults who don’t want to understand him, but only marginalize and bully him. Unlike your little spitfire Jimmy, who is determined to do what he dreams no matter what, my son has struggled with identifying that this anxiety and stress comes from OUTSIDE him and has started being really hard on himself. Of course this just proves to those certain adults that he really isn’t capable and they’re right in encouraging us to give up on him.

After I read Going to the Moon I sat down with my kids and had them read it. At first they were intrigued that the main character had a ″different kind of brain″ like my son. Then when they started reading about Jimmy’s words there was only a small number of the expected giggles. Instead they knew exactly what Jimmy felt, with his words being like aliens or monsters that try to ruin his life.

Words will always be a monster to be slayed for my son, in a different way than they are for Jimmy, but the effect is the same. And there are people who are his allies in the fight (like his sister) and he’s beginning to understand that there are aliens making thing worse and sometimes all you can do is discount them and keep fighting your fight.

Did Going to the Moon teach my son this lesson? Probably not. A year filled with sadly upsetting experiences and interactions, but also filled with a number of triumphs outside of school, taught him that. But fictional or not, your tale of another kid who’s different being stubbornly determined to live big no matter what his disability or people around him say definitely reinforced these lessons. And now we have a book he can look back to and read if he ever forgets.

This is one of the few books he’s gotten that kind of life-connection from and any story-passionate parent will tell you that’s priceless. So thank you, and Jimmy.