Horn Book (Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1996)

Elliot has won a national sweepstakes to become the first Junior Astronaut and, while he's on board the space shuttle, talks via radio with a Masai boy, much to the betterment of them both. The scenes of Elliot's training for the space shot have a 'Hachet'-like appeal, but the mission itself is talky, and the parallel story about the Masai is predictable and didactic.

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 1997)

Starred Review In earlier novels, Mikaelsen explored settings as diverse as the Montana mountains and the Florida Keys, providing challenges for his characters and such rich descriptions readers could easily imagine themselves in the story. In Countdown widely disparate settings increase the dramatic contrast between the lives of two 14-year-old boys: Vincent Ole Tome, who lives in a remote village in Kenya, and Elliot Schroeder, at home in the high-tech environment of the Johnson Space Center and aboard a space shuttle. Readers soon discover that the boys are very much alike. Each boy is in conflict with his father and must choose between accepting an expected way of life and following his dream. Mr. Schroeder resents Elliot's wanting to leave the family ranch and become a pilot. When Elliot is selected to become NASA's first junior astronaut, the chasm between father and son widens. Vincent wants to attend school, but his father distrusts white culture and threatens to disown the boy if he does not become a traditional Masai warrior. The two strong-willed boys meet via the shortwave radio of Elliot's spacecraft, and every night the world listens to their arguments about their religious and cultural beliefs, which ultimately grow to reflect modern-day world issues. It's only when the boys meet in person that they can see their way clear to begin a relationship respectful of their differences. Mikaelsen weaves a provocative message through his novel and blends two fast-paced stories into a single, powerful whole. Suggest this to language-arts and reading teachers, and be prepared for high demand when they booktalk it. (Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1997)