“A quirky and wonderful world . . . the story is compelling and Walter is a wonderful creation”
- Eoin Colfer

Synopsis

Walter Speazlebud intends to visit the Moon. Not when he’s grown up; not even with the next NASA mission. No, Walter intends to use his power of Noitanigami (‘imagination’ to those of you who sadly lack the ability to spell, talk and travel backwards). With the help of gutsy Annie Zuckers and gentle Levon, Walter is going to travel back in time to 1969 to prove that the Moon landing happened. So what if the Moon’s surface looks like the Nevada desert? So what if Neil Armstrong botched his line (Shouldn’t it have been ‘one small step for a man, one giant leap for Mankind’?)? Walter’s beloved grandfather said it happened, and even if he is getting confused in the head, Walter’s grandfather must be right. Walter is going to prove it! And if Walter can master his gift of Noitanigami, perhaps then he will be able to take his grandfather back in time, too, and rid him of his Alzheimer’s . . .

About the book

Type the words ‘moon landing 1969’ into an internet search engine and, chances are, you will find many theories on how it never actually happened, how it was faked. Now, most people think that it doesn’t matter what the non-believers say, because the moon landing in 1969 is now accepted as one of the greatest achievements of man and no two-bit doubting Thomas is going to take that away from us. And I agree. Those words ‘This is one small step for man, one giant step for mankind,’ now resonate in our minds, as if they had been spoken by God.

I should tell you that Moon Man is almost as crazy as any other story claiming the moon landing was faked. It is definitely as crazy as the notion that the moon landing actually did happen. Consider this: seventeen years after Apollo 11 went to the moon, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight due to the failure of a seal in the rocket booster. If NASA failed to take a shuttle into space in 1986, could they have successfully launched a rocket in 1969 and landed two men on the moon and taken them home safely?

Fake or real, this is what the Apollo mission stands for: the power of the imagination (or Noitanigami as you’ll call it after reading the book): the single most important element in a project as ambitious as landing a man on the moon. It was the imaginations of the rocket scientist Werner Van Braun and NASA’s engineers that took the Neptune rocket into space and beyond that, into history. However, though their imagination had no bounds, their skills as engineers most definitely did; while sending a rocket into space was well within their capabilities, landing on the moon and guaranteeing the astronauts’ safe return was quite simply not.

This is the first time my version of events has been told. You might well find it more crazy than NASA’s version, but I don’t believe you can argue with this: those who are chosen to be history-makers are often the most unlikely sorts, plucked from a hum-drum world to dance to a magical tune whose composer is unseen.

Let me tell you a story about a curly-haired boy with a peculiar approach to spelling words and an imagination as big as the moon itself. This story may seem stranger than fiction but it may also be truer than the ‘truth’. You decide!

“…boys will …enjoy a crazy, witty and inventive plot.” Junior Education

“Moon Man is a fantastic magical book.” TermTimes

“this is a really good book, it’s funny, exciting and action-packed and it also tells you lots of things about space.” First News

“…hilarious action-adventure ... Walter Speazlebud is a hero of our times” Funday Times Online

“Witty, fun and fast-paced for the younger crew.” Flipside

“will delight and enthrall younger and older readers alike” Inis, the Magazine of Children’s Books, Ireland