Zita the Spacegirl

Pros: fun protagonist, cute story, expressive artwork

Cons:

When Zita finds a strange device in a meteoroid and pushes the button on it her friend Joseph is pulled through the rift that opens. She reacts as any young girl would, by running away and pretending nothing bad just happened. Then she gathers her courage, pushes the button again, and jumps through the rift to go find her friend. Her quest to rescue Joseph takes her to an alien planet that's facing its final days.

Zita's a personable girl, with a lot of courage and heart. She makes friends easily, finding several creatures willing to help her out.

The artwork is very expressive, giving the characters a lot of personality to match the dialogue.

The plot is quick moving, with a few twists. Things wrap up well enough at the end of this comic, but there are 2 other books in the series, Legends of Zita the Spacegirl and Return of Zita the Spacegirl. The three books together make up the completed story arc.

This is a great kid friendly graphic novel that will inspire readers and hopefully encourage them to read more SF and fantasy adventures.

4/5 stars

This is a rather quick read. It's great if you want to use it to read aloud, especially with younger children. It keeps them interested in what's going on in the story and eager to know what's next.

In terms of science fiction, this is a good book for someone who is still unfamiliar with the genre. The worldbuilding does a good job of not being too distracting from the plot. It doesn't overwhelm the reader with unnecessary information.

In terms of characters, we do get a good range of them. Although the majority of them tend to be robots, they all have different personalities and range in emotions.

Overall, it was interesting and I would continue reading the series even without using it as a reading material for tutoring.