Friday, September 20, 2019

Astro-Nuts to the Rescue!

Astro-Nuts Mission One: The Plant Planet 
by Jon Scieszka  ; illus by Steven Weinberg
220 pages; ages 8-12
Chronicle Books, 2019

If you’re looking for a funny, smart book that combines climate change with a zany space adventure, then look no further. AstroNuts begins with a count-down to an emergency blast-off. Emergency, because “humans finally crossed a BIG RED LINE – putting more than 400 ppm (parts per million) of CO-2 (carbon dioxide) into my beautiful atmosphere.”

Yep, the story is told by planet Earth, and boy does Earth have a story to tell. It’s about four super-powered animal astronauts who launch into space to search for a Goldilocks planet. You know… not too hot, not too cold, juuuust right! ”Like I used to be,” says Earth. “Before you got here.”

Need a quick lesson on climate change and why 400 ppm is so important? Read this and this.

So, our mutant heroes arrive at a planet full of plants. No dangerous animals, but… viney vines wind around the rocket. Alas, our trusty Astronuts are captured by intelligent vegetation and imprisoned in a plant cell (complete with a map blueprint diagram).

Will they escape? Will they go on another mission? Will they find a Goldilocks planet before we humans set off a huge extinction brought on by our inability to moderate our addiction to fossil fuels?

And now, a word from our sponsor - Earth.

What I like about this book: I love the point-of view. I love the occasional astronaut reports, the glitch computer, and “Official NNASA transcripts”. The illustrations are fun, the presentation combines elements of comics, and there’s a bit of atmospheric chemistry tossed in. Plus I love the way the Astronuts harness the golgi apparatus and a bunch of mitochondria to escape the plant cell. There are plenty of space references some readers will appreciate and new words, such as “snotrocketing” (verb). And no, it’s not in the glossary.

There’s also a couple pages at the back of the book that describe how the collage illustrations were created. And a challenge for readers to create their own collage artwork, along with a link to an Astronut website where you can download some helpful printouts.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.


9 comments:

  1. Wow! This sounds amazing—and funny! Chronicle Books and Jon Scieszka make a great pairing. I've put this one on hold. The San Francisco Public Library has 31 copies in circulation, and another 31 on order. Thanks for the rec!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I took my copy to a writing workshop for kids - one kid pulled out her phone, accessed the system's catalog, and put it on hold right then and there.

      Delete
  2. I'll have to take a look at this. The topic is important, but that cover is awful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually like the cover! It's bright, it's fun - and it introduces the characters right off the bat.

      Delete
  3. Sounds like an entertaining way to learn. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Quite the setup for this story. A fun read sure to entice young readers. Thanks for the links about climate change.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a great concept for a story. It always helps to inject humor to get kids to read. Thanks for telling me about this one. I will try to pick it up.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the fact that the planet it a character and narrates the story! It sounds like a fascinating read! Great links to climate change. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This sounds like a book right up my alley - fun Sci Fi!

    ReplyDelete