From the Earth to the Moon: Or A Cannon for Peace

Impey Barbicane thought of making the greatest cannon of them all. A powerful cannon not for war, but for peace, made to shoot not the enemy, but the surface of the moon. 'Peace, peace at last! But now no one needs cannon-makers anymore...and I love my job and know how to do it well. If only there were cannons for peace, I could make them better than anyone...'

Those were Impey Barbicane's thoughts, as he was staring at the moon...which gave him a brilliant idea: he would make the greatest cannon in the world, a cannon that would expand the human knowledge! Made not to fight the enemy but to launch a shell to the surface of the Moon! Indeed, that would be the cannon of peace!

About the Authors

Jules Verne was born in the seaport of Nantes, he was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early in life to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

Antonis Papatheodoulou was born in Athens. He has published more than 50 books for children, some of which have been translated into eleven languages. They have also been adapted into plays and puppet theatre, and have won many awards, including two Greek State Picture Book Awards and the 2016 International Compostela Prize. Five of his books have been included in the White Ravens list of the International Children's Library of Munich. He is a candidate for the 2019 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

About the Illustrator

Iris Samartzi is a children's book illustrator and an art teacher. Her work has received many awards, including the 2016 International Compostela Prize for Picture Books, the Greek State Picture Book Award (2012, 2016) and the Greek IBBY Award (2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017). When she is not illustrating books, she runs art workshops for children. She lives and works in Athens, Greece. She is nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award 2020.