Tag Archive | space

May the Fourth be with you! Back to William Shakespeare Star Wars, by Ian Doescher (fiction book review)

May4
Large sketched image of Darth Vader in embellished armor is surrounded by smaller images of Star Wars tie fighter, X-wing craft, Luke with sword, and Princess Leia, above book title: William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope, by Ian Doescher

Favorite holiday for that “galaxy far, far away” is today, so I celebrate the reissued books of Ian Doescher’s mashup series, retelling Star Wars tales in William Shakespeare’s style.

I recommended the original editions over a decade ago, beginning with William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope, the story that started it all, completely and lovingly rendered in epic Shakespearean verse: https://booksyalove.com/?p=3298

Next was The Empire Striketh Back (Star Wars: Part the Fifth) which I introduced with several original verses in iambic pentameter; here we meet Yoda who speaks in haiku: https://booksyalove.com/?p=3307

Rounding out the series based on the original movie trilogy is The Jedi Doth Return (Star Wars Part the Sixth), which I recommended here with a bit more verse: https://booksyalove.com/?p=4219; it even has a book trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVp5XZEang4

Doescher thought that the original trilogy was the end of his collaboration with masters Shakespeare and Lucas, but nay, good friends, the saga continueth!

I recommended William Shakespeare’s The Phantom of Menace (Star Wars, Part the First) here https://booksyalove.com/?p=5811 again penning my own iambic pentameter plot summary, but missed out on The Clone Army Attacketh (Star Wars, Part the Second) and Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge (Star Wars, Part the Third).

Past the original trilogy are William Shakespeare’s The Force Doth Awaken: Star Wars Part the Seventh, Jedi the Last: Star Wars Part the Eighth, and The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth (newer titles, different subtitle format…)

Sadly all were out of print until Insight Editions began reissuing the series last year; find the whole list at https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Ian-Doescher/232868011 including new works featuring the Mandalorian and Ashoka (publishing Sept. 2026).

Darth Vader, a woman in pink blouse, Storm Trooper stand in front of Death Star backdrop, with caption "May the force of reading be with you - Abdo - TLA 2012 - Star Wars"

Look for them all at your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://bookshop.org/!

Which is your favorite Star Wars episode?
**kmm

(thanks again to Abdo Publishing for this photo op and their long-time support of Texas readers, librarians, and the Texas Library Association)

V is for VERN: CUSTODIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, by Tyrell Waiters (YA Graphic Novel) #A2Z

Apr25
A young Tshirt-clad Black man holding a mop in bucket strides out of a billowing planet-studded cloud into a dark starry sky, toward book title Vern Custodian of the Universe, by Tyrell Waiters.

Mop and bucket,
always on call,
gotta save the multiverse?!

Burned out from fruitless job hunt in California, Vern heads to Florida where his grandmother has a position lined up for him… as janitor at a tech company seeking a new home for humanity before climate change destroys the planet.

The young Black man knows that Granny and his late Grandpa met at Quasar, but he’s not sure that cleaning up space goo filled with eyes or upside down rooms is for him.

Oops! Vern might have unplugged that old clunky computer, so he plugs it back in and is instantly transported to the furthest edge of the multiverse where The Void asks “What is the point?” and sends him back to Quasar to get the answer.

Except it’s not his Quasar and not his universe! He learns that whenever Quasar scientists on any of the Earths think they’ve found a suitable planet, The Void is there to stop them.

Now Vern has to jump through several universes and unplug each identical machine there like the one he accidentally activated on his Earth before the universes collide!

When will The Void summon Vern to answer the question?
How is Quasar really using their space technologies?
Why does Granny keep saying that Grandpa is always watching over Vern?

Every universe that Vern encounters has its own unique art style in this astronomically good graphic novel. Check out the first pages on the publisher’s website, for free: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714042/vern-custodian-of-the-universe-by-tyrell-waiters/

Where would you like to instantaneously travel to in space?
**kmm

Book info: Vern: Custodian of the Universe / Tyrell Waiters. Flying Eye Books, 2025. [author site https://www.tartwurk.com/] [publisher site https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714042/vern-custodian-of-the-universe-by-tyrell-waiters/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

U is unbelievable, astounding, enlightening: LISTIFIED! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind, by Pettie & Lozano (kids nonfiction) #A2Z

Apr24
Book title LISTIFIED! down center of book cover, with hand-drawn collections of bugs, living things, dinosaurs, bones, eggs, snowflakes, dogs wearing graduation hats, vehicles, and sea creatures to the left, and text to right: Britannica's 300 lists that will blow your mind, about all sorts of things... by Andrew Pettie

A brachiosaurus would equal the weight of how many housecats?
If Earth were the size of a cherry, how big would Saturn and Mars be?
What animals can run faster than a horse for 20 miles?

Fastest travel time around the world, surprising things that have fallen from the sky, organs that your body can survive without (and why) – if you want to know lots of things about lots of subjects, turn to Listified!

Its highly illustrated lists are grouped into chapters on
space, nature, dinosaur times, animals, the body, being human, inventions, and game changers.

Learn about the most visited monuments and buildings in the world, biggest machines ever built, important women in medical history, most unusual modern jobs, and much more.

Whether you choose a page at random or read an entire chapter, you’ll discover something new and can be absolute;u sure that it’s true because everything has been thoroughly reviewed by the Encyclopedia Britannica team.

Are you a list-maker, too?
**kmm

Book info: Listified! Britannica’s 300 Lists That Will Blow Your Mind / Andrew Pettie; illustrated by Andres Lozano. Britannica Books, 2021. [author site https://www.instagram.com/andrewjpettie/] [artist site https://www.sensgallery.com/artists/andres-lozano] [publisher site https://www.whatonearthbooks.com/us/product/listified/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

X is unknown: KEPLER26: THE INVITATION to abandoned brothers – to a safe place? by Parvela, Sortland, Pitkanen, and Witesman (MG Fiction) #AtoZ

Apr28
Book cover of Kepler62: The Invitation, by/ Timo Parvela & Bjorn Sortland; art by Pasi Pitkanen; translated by Owen Witesman. Shows a short Black boy and a taller white tween boy with sticking-up hair, half-brothers who hold hands as they walk into a dark hangar. Through the open hangar doors emblazoned with a fierce bird, is a large passenger jet plane taking off into a vivid red and orange sky.

Too many people, too much pollution,
not enough work or food,
a computer game offers escape and a secret…

With Mom always gone, 13-year-old Ari shoplifts to feed little half-brother Joni. The hoopla about the upcoming space expedition to find another habitable planet doesn’t fill an empty stomach.

“A lady” gives Joni the video game that everyone is talking about: Kepler62, rumored to have a secret ending if you master all the levels.

Two days, two nights – the game starts with easy quests, then gets much harder. Online gamer forums say no one has solved level 99 yet.

As they try yet again, Joni insists that Ari choose an unconventional weapon, and onward they go in the dark tunnel… success!

Then things the boys have never ever seen appear on-screen – mountains and trees and a meadow where a tall pale boy runs with a kite as a young dark boy follows… is that them?

Joni wakes up with a fever, so they go to the health center where a very young girl with implanted medical knowledge prescribes a medication that triggers alarms when they accept it. The lady who gave Joni the game helps them escape, but the men in grey suits are fast!

Why did the government just now discover the boys’ mother hasn’t been home in a while?
Oh, those men’s eyes have that glint like the girl doctor – have their brains been altered, too?
Joni is sure there’s something else in the game – can the brothers find it?

This first book in the Kepler62 illustrated novel series (https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Kepler62) was simultaneously released in Finnish and Norwegian, then translated into English.

What’s your favorite reality-escape video game?
**kmm

Book info: Kepler62: The Invitation / Timo Parvela & Bjorn Sortland; art by Pasi Pitkanen; translated by Owen Witesman. Arctis Books, 2023. [Timo’s site https://www.timoparvela.fi/en] [Bjorn’s site https://bjornsortland.no/boker.html] [Pasi’s site https://www.instagram.com/pp_pitkanen/] [Owen’s site https://www.suomitranslation.com/about/] [publisher site https://www.arctis-books.com/books/the-invitation] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

U is for the Untold story of Jean Wright and NASA seamstresses: SEW SISTER, by Elise Matich (Nonfiction Picture Book) #AtoZ

Apr24
Book cover of Sew Sister: the Untold story of Jean Wright and NASA's Seamstresses, written and illustrated by Elise Matich. Shows a girl in dress and knee high socks, sitting cross-legged, pulling needle and thread toward her after stitching around image of Space Shuttle taking off surrounded by swirling stitches of its rocket exhaust and patterns of stars.

The Space Shuttle!
Technological wonder,
astronauts’ orbiting home,
covered with blankets…

Yes, each of the space shuttles had a coat of unique fabric panels for protection from the blazing heat of its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Who made them? How?

Jean grew up learning to sew and became a huge fan of NASA’s space program after men landed on the Moon when she was a young teen in Flint, Michigan.

But how could a girl without a college education ever work for NASA?

Years later, when her husband retired from the Navy, they settled in Florida near Cape Canaveral so she could see rockets and space shuttles launched.

Look at this news article! NASA employed seamstresses to construct the many-layered fireproof panels needed for each shuttle!

Jean immediately applied to join the team and began studying shuttle blueprints because every panel had to be uniquely shaped to fit its spot on the shuttle’s exterior.

She waited and applied again and waited – finally, she was called to join the Sew Sisters whose work kept shuttle astronauts safe during launch, orbit, and re-entry.

Different quilts for different protective purposes – against atmospheric friction, solar radiation, roaring engine noise.

The Sew Sisters had to create a pattern for each and every quilt section so all 1400 pieces fit perfectly around a shuttle’s curved outer skin.

Oh, no! Atlantis tore a blanket loose on take-off! The Sew Sisters rushed to test blankets with various repairs in a wind tunnel and while wearing bulky space-suit gloves.

Jean and the Sew Sisters anxiously watched as Atlantis’ on-board camera showed the astronauts fix their dangerous problem on a space walk, by using a surgical stapler!

A long-held dream, long-practiced skills, and persistence brought Jean into the Sew Sisters – now we know about their vital part in the Space Shuttle program, too.

What quiet behind-the-scenes work would you like to see in a picture book?
**kmm

Book info: Sew Sister: the Untold Story of Jean Wright and NASA’s Seamstresses / Elise Matich. Tilbury House Publishers, 2023. [author site https://elisematich.com/] [publisher site https://www.tilburyhouse.com/product-page/sew-sister] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

She needs his help SHOOTING FOR STARS, by Christine Webb (YA book review)

May21
Girl sitting on ringed planet above boy looking up at her, holding a star - book cover of Shooting For Stars, by Christine Webb

Her mom’s research cut short,
Sky plans to continue it –
now is her chance!

Skyler’s sole focus for years has been getting into MIT so she can further her late mother’s research on neutron stars; her dad concentrates on bacterial research for the hospital; their paths cross occasionally.

Wow – a NASA contest that could get her onboard the International Space Station with the NICER telescope! All the Las Vegas senior needs is the perfect video application… which means she needs help.

Hiring classmate Cooper as videographer is easy, figuring out the script is tricky, hearing Dad forbid her to even try for this internship is impossible!

Add in Dad dating a popular beauty influencer he met in the hospital, Cooper’s sister needing tutoring to stay eligible for volleyball, and Sky fretting about upcoming SATs as the video deadline approaches…

Is the growing attraction between Sky and Cooper real?
Why would Cooper give up on his own dream career before it begins?
Why won’t Dad let Skyler go after hers?

Happy book birthday (21 May 2024) to Shooting For Stars!

When have you taken a chance to make a dream happen?
**kmm

Book info: Shooting For Stars / Christine Webb. Peachtree Teen, 2024. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

T is TASTING LIGHT: Ten Science Fiction Stories to Rewire Your Perceptions, edited by A.R. Capetta & Wade Roush (YA book review) #A2Z

Apr23
vague human figure in spacesuit looking upward at title and author names on book cover of Tasting Light: Ten Science Fiction Stories to Rewire Your Perceptions,edited by A R Capetta and Wade Roush

What’s in our future?
Who gets to decide?
Can we change who gets to decide?

She hears a dead friend singing in the park – who selected that voice-mod to replace their own, and why?

Meeting him among the tethers holding together her small space city was electrifying – until she sensed one disintegrating.

Teens on different space habitats exchanging messages and dreams – via junk DNA in bio-sample data packets.

A robot far in the woods, observing the tiniest creatures in its soil – “I am very tired of humans desperately needing me to be something to them” (pg. 119).

Gender assumptions, body image, white entitlement, traditional knowledges, emotions and more…

Go to ten futures with William Alexander, K. Ancrum, Elizabeth Bear, A.R. Capetta, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, A.S. King, E.C. Myers, Junauda Petrus-Nasah, and graphic novelist Wendy Xu.

The authors were challenged to write YA fiction using classic hard Sci-Fi with “no magic, no faster-than-light travel, just real-world physics,” and they succeeded brilliantly with these stories “about young people discovering themselves and how their bravery can change the world in small or big ways” (pg x).

Check it out at your local library or independent bookstore – hardcover, eBook, and paperback.

What do you see in your future?
**kmm

Book info: Tasting Light: Ten Science Fiction Stories to Rewire Your Perceptions / edited by A.R. Capetta & Wade Roush. MITeen Press /Candlewick, hardcover 2022, paperback 2023. [A.R. site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

F is this FAR OUT! festival, with UFOs and mysteries, by Anne Bustard (MG book review) #A2Z

Apr6
book cover of Far Out! by Anne Bustard. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

“Welcome to our extraterrestrial festivities, with aliens as guests of honor!”

Well, invitations have officially been extended to any and all space people for the first annual Come On Down Day at Totter, Texas in November 1964.

Mary Jane and her best friend Nick can’t wait to see an actual meteorite at the library’s new display, but it goes missing before the grand opening!

MJ’s beloved grandmother is arrested as the main suspect (by a deputy, not MJ’s dad/the sheriff), so the 11 year old starts gathering evidence to prove that Mimi is innocent.

How many people had a library key? Who was in the town square that night? Who wants to mess up Come On Down Day?!

Space-themed bingo at school, counting down to the big day, then Mimi goes missing!

Was she abducted by aliens? Does the visiting UFO expert have information to share? Can Dad’s photos shed light on the matter?

A big day in their small town – hope the aliens Come On Down!

Also available in paperback on 24 April 2024.

Have you ever spotted a UFO?
**kmm

Book info: Far Out! / Anne Bustard. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

B is for BORN READING: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way Into History, by Kathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan (MG book review) #A2Z

Apr2
book cover of Born Reading: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way Into History, byKathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan; illustrated by Aura Lewis. Paula Wiseman Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com

The skill of reading hasn’t always been taught to girls or encouraged for women, but that didn’t stop those determined to learn!

Meet Wu Zeitan, the first and only woman emperor of China, who promoted reading and education, published books on farming and government, wrote poetry, and created new Chinese written characters.

Get to know E. Pauline Johnson, an Indigenous Canadian poet and performer who was able to lecture and write about her Mohawk and White heritage in the late 1800s when few Indigenous or native voices reached such wide audiences.

Patsy Takemoto Mink didn’t let prejudice against Japanese Americans after World War II stop her from continuing her education, becoming a lawyer, then going into politics to change policies that discriminated against women and people of color. In Congress, she championed Title IX to end gender discrimination in higher education.

You’ll discover more about the reading lives of historical figures Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Phillis Wheatley Pierce, Chien-Shiung Wu, Indira Gandhi, Shirley Chisholm, and Audre Lorde in this book.

Contemporary women readers chronicled include Temple Grandin, Sally Ride, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Serena Williams, Taylor Swift, Mala Yousafzai, Amanda Gorman, and Marley Diaz.

The 20 profiles are followed by sections on Feminist Fun Facts, more Girls with Books, activities to keep you reading, how to access free books, organizations that help girls and children read, and an extensive resource list.

Prolific author Kathleen Krull died in 2021, leaving behind a handful of profiles in the manuscript for this book which was further researched and completed by author and long-time friend Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan.

Kathleen said “Once books change their brains, girls change history.” (page 1)
How will you read your way into history?
**kmm

Book info: Born Reading: 20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way Into History / written by Kathleen Krull & Virginia Loh-Hagan; illustrated by Aura Lewis. Paula Wiseman Books/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2023. [Loh-Hagan interview] [illustrator site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

When tattooed boy STARLING falls from the sky.. #YALit by Isabel Strychacz (book review)

Jan10
book cover of Starling, by Isabel Strychacz. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.com

A lifetime of following the very unusual,
wanting to escape sneering neighbors,
graduation seems as far away as the stars…

Outcasts in their odd California desert town, teens Delta and Bee try to keep folks from realizing that Dad stepped into a different dimension a few weeks ago, not just off on another esoteric research trip.

Their house on the outskirts of Darling truly has a mind of its own, and the sisters won’t open the hall closet door, hoping Dad will walk back through someday soon.

When a meteor or plane or something crashes into their woods one night, Delta ventures out and finds a boy covered with moving tattoos – but who could have survived this?

Maybe Starling is a boy, but more likely not. If they can’t find the object he needs to return home, can he survive here?

If Del’s sort-of-boyfriend finds out about Starling and tells his dad the mayor…. oh no!

Recounted from Delta’s and Starling’s perspectives, this tale of disconnection, love, and loss brings the distant near.

What makes a place ‘home’ for you?
*kmm

Book Info: Starling / Isabel Strychacz. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. (author site) (publisher site) Review copy & cover image courtesy of the publisher.