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Dmitri the Astronaut
‘It’s me!’ says Dmitri. ‘I’m back from the moon!’ But alas, nobody remembers the former space hero anymore. Unknown to Dmitri, Lulu—his loyal lunar pal—has stowed away in his sack of moon rocks, and this remarkable creature soon becomes an overnight sensation. While the forgotten astronaut mopes, scientists are puzzling over Lulu’s crayon drawings of a mysterious figure. Who on earth can he possibly be?
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
26 people want to read
About the author
Jon Agee
55 books164 followersI grew up in Nyack, New York, just up the street from the Hudson River. In our house, there was always an art project going on.
My early drawings were very animated: a lot of stuff zipping around, airplanes, racing cars, football players. No surprise my first published drawing was a pack of rats running along a highway (The Rat Race). I did that for the New York Times Op Ed page when I was still in high school.
I went to college at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. I studied painting, sculpture and filmmaking, but what I loved doing most—in my spare time—was drawing cartoons and comic strips.
When I graduated, I hauled my pile of doodles into the offices of a bunch of editors, with the wild notion that somebody might publish them. When that failed, I wrote a story for kids to go with my pictures (If Snow Falls). It was two sentences long (which counts, by the way). Frances Foster, a wonderful editor at Random House, saw something in that book and signed me up.
The next book, Ellsworth, was about a dog who teaches economics at a university. When he gets home, he throws off his clothes and acts like a dog, which is fine, until some fellow teachers discover this and he loses his job. Somebody told me that Ellsworth was a story about "being yourself." I never realized it had a moral.
I moved to another publisher with Ludlow Laughs, the story of a grumpy guy who laughs in his sleep. This book was doing very poorly until the comedienne Phyliss Diller read it on PBS's Reading Rainbow. It stayed in print for over twenty years.
My fourth book, The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau, was a hit. One of the first people to see it and give it the thumb's up—literally, hot off the press—was Maurice Sendak. We bumped into each other at the printers. It was a lucky first meeting, and happily not our last.
That was all a long time ago. Since then I've written many other picture books, illustrated a few by other authors, and created a series of offbeat wordplay books, beginning with the book of palindromes, Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!
I visit schools across the country and sometimes around the globe. I live with my wife, Audrey, in San Francisco.
My early drawings were very animated: a lot of stuff zipping around, airplanes, racing cars, football players. No surprise my first published drawing was a pack of rats running along a highway (The Rat Race). I did that for the New York Times Op Ed page when I was still in high school.
I went to college at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York City. I studied painting, sculpture and filmmaking, but what I loved doing most—in my spare time—was drawing cartoons and comic strips.
When I graduated, I hauled my pile of doodles into the offices of a bunch of editors, with the wild notion that somebody might publish them. When that failed, I wrote a story for kids to go with my pictures (If Snow Falls). It was two sentences long (which counts, by the way). Frances Foster, a wonderful editor at Random House, saw something in that book and signed me up.
The next book, Ellsworth, was about a dog who teaches economics at a university. When he gets home, he throws off his clothes and acts like a dog, which is fine, until some fellow teachers discover this and he loses his job. Somebody told me that Ellsworth was a story about "being yourself." I never realized it had a moral.
I moved to another publisher with Ludlow Laughs, the story of a grumpy guy who laughs in his sleep. This book was doing very poorly until the comedienne Phyliss Diller read it on PBS's Reading Rainbow. It stayed in print for over twenty years.
My fourth book, The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau, was a hit. One of the first people to see it and give it the thumb's up—literally, hot off the press—was Maurice Sendak. We bumped into each other at the printers. It was a lucky first meeting, and happily not our last.
That was all a long time ago. Since then I've written many other picture books, illustrated a few by other authors, and created a series of offbeat wordplay books, beginning with the book of palindromes, Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!
I visit schools across the country and sometimes around the globe. I live with my wife, Audrey, in San Francisco.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 8, 2022
More surprises from space!
Dmitri the Astronaut has returned home from his rock collecting mission to the moon. But poor Dmitri! No one seems to remember him. Dmitri’s sadness grows and shoulders slump as he wanders around taking in how the world has changed and moved on without him. Someone has missed him though. Come see another Agee space surprise!
Have some paper and crayons on hand too. Lulu’s portrait of Dmitri is great fun to draw. Even I could do it! Who is Lulu? You’re going to have to read to find out. :)
A sweet read full of moon rocks, drawings, and friends.
p.s. After so, SO many viewings of Toy Story over the years, I have to wonder if Dmitri's helmet does that whoosh! thing. Haha...
Check this one out from your local Library.
May 20, 2012
The only reason I didn't like this is because (in the gentle way that children's books have) it's largely about public failure and humiliation. So, kind of uncomfortable. Then the resolution is that the failure turns out to have been a triumph after all, which isn't how things go in real life.
The book isn't bad and the illustrations are quietly wonderful, as in all Agee's books.
The book isn't bad and the illustrations are quietly wonderful, as in all Agee's books.
January 8, 2017
Stupid story, imo. But, it's Agee, so, I liked the pix enough to give it an 'ok' star, and, maybe I'm missing something. But it's not SF, there's no moral I can find to call it a fable, it's not absurd, a farce, or a satire, and it's only sort of a friendship story. So, what is it?
September 11, 2017
Odd little story. Doesn't seem to have a real point-not that it matters. I typically like Agee's stuff more than this, though. I was hoping that there would be some kind of catch, like more time passed while he was up there than he thought. No such luck, though...
March 8, 2024
Agee Assignment #19
Geezer spends two and a half years on the moon and comes back to no-one remembering him and well brings someone along - anyway ok story which seems quite well not credible but anyway has some entertaining moments and is essentially about friendship.
Geezer spends two and a half years on the moon and comes back to no-one remembering him and well brings someone along - anyway ok story which seems quite well not credible but anyway has some entertaining moments and is essentially about friendship.
August 4, 2022
This was quite funny, the idea of a forgotten astronaut and the moon alien that snuck to Earth in his bag of rocks.
April 8, 2014
The illustrations in this book are cute and simple. I enjoyed viewing them. The book has dialogue and exclamation points for oral reading lessons. Lines per page range from a few to many. This book would be good for a 3rd grader. Some pages with only a few lines might lead a potential buyer/reader to thing it is best for a younger reader but there are those pages with more text. There are many quotes from different characters that would make this a good read if you used different voices for the characters in a read-a-loud however the major weakness was the weak plot this undermines effectiveness of this book. A student who might enjoy space travel will like the book and over look the weak plot solely for the fact it's space travel themed but I feel most readers will not enjoy the story. Despite the weak plot I rate it a 3 because the cute illustrations and characters make it higher than a two.
August 14, 2017
A cute story about an astronaut, Dimitri, who returns from space and isn't remembered.
June 13, 2015
Poor Dmitri, an astronaut forgotten after a 2 1/2 year mission on the moon to collect rocks. Upon his return to earth, he realizes that no one is waiting for him any longer. The science museum still has a display about his endeavor, but it's neglected and forgotten, much the same as Dmitri. He wanders the city feeling lost, eventually dropping his moon rocks in a garbage can in the park only to have a friend, secretly hiding in his moon rock bag emerge and turn things around for him. While this book is sad at the beginning, by the end all is well. A good read for elementary level students.
January 23, 2016
The story is mediocre - an astronaut comes home after being away for awhile and no one seems to remember him. But, he happens to bring home a special friend from the moon.
The illustrations are whimsical and fun.
The illustrations are whimsical and fun.
September 30, 2012
Plucked it out of a display in our school library. Didn't know there was an Agee book I hadn't read!
November 19, 2012
the ending comes a bit quickly. poor dmitri :(
October 1, 2009
I felt for Dmitri. Sometimes you just need a little attention for the cool things you do.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews