The Carousel King and the Space Mission / El Rey del Carrusel y la Misión Espacial

Written by Leticia Ordaz
Illustrated by Yana Popova
Published by Cielito Lindo Books

He’s too scared to ride! Can this brave Latino boy overcome his fear and fly to the moon and back?

Maxton can’t wait to try new things. So when he spots a beautiful carousel at the zoo, he’s jumping up and down to take a turn on the super-cool dragon. But as the merry-go-round starts to spin, the startled kid jumps off, terrified! After the magical fire-breathing beast appears in Maxton’s sleep with words of encouragement, he wakes up determined to try again. Now bursting with courage, he dreams of building carousels in space to spread happiness and clever inventions throughout the solar system. When he teams up with his little brother to make a rocket ship, can they bring new life and fun to space?

With charming illustrations, this inspirational tale shows what happens when creative Latinx youth are allowed to explore their bold ideas. Told in both English and Spanish, kids will dream big and realize exciting careers in STEAM fields are completely within their grasp.