In 2006, NASA presented Armstrong with a moon rock, a souvenir of his 1969 lunar stroll. He named the basalt fragment Bok and here, with the proclamation "Rocks remember," he chronicles its history. Armstrong notes his own early interest in the moon and provides a history of Earth's satellite from its formation 4.5 billion years ago (following a small planet colliding with Earth) through its turbulent early years (filled with erupting geysers and flowing lava) to its more settled recent existence as observed by Bok himself. Baker-Smith's art includes ethereal spreads that highlight the drama of cosmic evolution, as well as anthropomorphized views of Bok, who sports human facial features. Dark blues and black are used effectively to convey deep space and ancient settings, while reds and yellows predominate in scenes depicting violent upheaval. Equally appealing are the early Earth scenes, portraying ocean environments, the end of dinosaurs, and the Ice Age, as well as Bok's retrieval by Armstrong. Appended with spreads detailing lunar history and Armstrong's career highlights, this makes an appealing STEM read-aloud.

A small bit of the primordial Earth is blasted into space…and a long time later makes a return journey via Apollo 11.Utilizing parts of a talk Armstrong delivered in 2006, Baker-Smith recasts a chunk of basalt that became part of the moon (thanks to a "celestial fender bender" in the solar system's early days) as a witness to the history of our planet. Measuring by the "billennium," Bok oversees continents rising and falling, life's appearance, and the arrival of dinosaurs. "But they disappeared almost before Bok noticed them." Taking a brief nap, he then misses "the unfolding story of humankind" until suddenly a "peculiar creature" in a vacuum suit snatches him up and carries him back to where his story began. The artist puts a tiny face on the potato-shaped rock, but for the most part he focuses on large-scale events-vividly capturing the wild violence of those molten eons, the eerie wonder of Earth's shallow early oceans in bright moonlight, extinction events, ice ages, and views of the suspenseful flight. In the backmatter, short biographies of the moon and Armstrong's astronautical career fill in further detail. Though the photos in the last part are all of White men, an earlier picture encapsulates our aforementioned "unfolding story" with portraits of Plato, Hypatia, Maria Mitchell, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and Bessie Coleman. (This book was reviewed digitally.)A compelling invitation to take the long view. (Informational picture book. 7-9)