Monday, December 17, 2012

Zita the Spacegirl

Zita the Spacegirl
by Ben Hatke
192 pages
Late Elementary+

Zita and her friend Joseph are just playing when they find a meteorite in the bottom of a crater.  Inside the meteorite, they find something that looks like a switch.  Playing around, Zita presses the button, not expecting anything to happen.  When a portal opens, and Joseph is stolen through it, Zita has no choice but to follow through to try and save Joseph.

On the other side of the portal, Zita is in a different universe. She is in the middle of a city that is weird and strange.  All around her are creatures and machines completely unfamiliar to her.  How is she going to find her friend all alone in the middle of this strange city?

This was totally awesome!  I loved it!  Not only was the story line engaging and intriguing, the artwork is beautiful and vibrant.  Something that I look for in a graphic novel is fun artwork that tells the story as much as the words do.  When you can find just as much story telling in the artwork as you do the words, that makes a great graphic novel!

Also, the story line is very intriguing and sets up great possibilities for future books.  I know there is another one at least, and I'm certainly looking forward to reading it!  The way the story is told really helps the reader identify and sympathize with the characters in many different situations.  The story line is engaging, and I really wanted to find out how Zita would save the day!

Another thing I really loved is how Zita managed to develop relationships with multiple people/species/animals in this strange new land.  And she does it through being herself, not some artificial person.  Through her kindness and adventurous spirit, she finds lots of new friends to help her on her journey.  This is a great book about friendship and sacrifices made for friends.

Overall, great book, great pictures, great story!  I will recommend this as much as Amulet, or regular fiction books as well.  Boys and girls will enjoy this, and I will start recommending to late elementary kids. Lots of fun!

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