Most of these are series so the description is for the entire series, but clicking the series title will take you to my review of the first book in the series.
Cats in/from Space
CatStronauts series by Drew Brockington
The CatStronauts are highly trained specialists with unique skills who go into space to save the Earth, their friends, and help the space program along in their series of graphic novel adventures.
This is a fun and exciting series with light humor.
Target Readers:
- Science Fiction Fans, Humor Fans, Graphic Novel Fans, Reluctant Readers, Cat Lovers, Space and Astronaut Nuts, Middle Grade Readers
Cleopatra in Space series by Mike Maihack
Cleopatra is dealing with being a royal personage in Ancient Egypt and in line to be queen. She doesn't mind certain parts, but could do without Algebra. She's about to have her grand 15th birthday bash when she accidentally gets zapped to the future and finds herself acclaimed a prophesied messiah. She joins the space academy, which has mostly the same ol' boring subjects, though she does like her classes on combat training. Still, she has a hard time swallowing the fact that she's supposed to save all of future society from the evil Xerx...and so are some of the administrators (who are all cats).
Cleo goes on to have several adventures chasing down artifacts and clues as to how she is supposed to save everyone, and she has a new gang of friends from the academy to help her. 5 of the promised 6 books that will make up this series are out so far. It is a high action, scifi graphic novel adventure through imaginative places in space with touches of Ancient Egypt thrown in and cats to boss around (and sometimes offer wise counsel) to the heroine and her friends.
Target Readers:
- Science Fiction Fans, Time Travel Fans, Promised One Story Fans, Ancient Egypt Buffs, Cat Lovers, Action & Adventure Fans, Graphic Novel Fans, Middle Grade Readers
Klawde, Evil Alien Warlord Cat series by Johnny Marciano & Emily Chenoweth, ill. by Robb Mommaerts
When Wyss-Kuzz, evil alien warlord, gets banished to Earth for his crimes, he gets taken in by a boy new to Elba, Oregon desperate for a friend. Of course, Raj has no idea his cat is a) an alien or b) a war criminal. Raj dotes on his new feline friend while trying to adjust to a new town. And Wyss-Kuzz, who Raj's father has dubbed Klawde, is commandeering all the small appliances in the house in hopes of constructing a teleporter to get him back to his world domination schemes. (He was quite distressed to discover that the human ogres had no such thing already.) He's also quite distressed by how everything on Earth seems to require thumbs, so he decides to recruit Raj to help him build. Nothing can possibly go wrong, right?
Klawde & Raj’s adventures continue with another banished cat coming to Earth, and next month it looks like a dog is coming. These a chapter books with a little larger font size and occasional, hilarious illustrations. I like that this features an Indian-American kid and that his Asian heritage isn't the main part of the story. It just comes up along the way in his mother's obsession with college transcripts (even though Raj is just about to start middle school) and that the family is vegetarian. There are some truly hilarious comic moments in these books. And both Klawde and Raj go through some good growth as the story progresses.
Target Readers:
- Fans of People of Color Main Characters (Indian American specifically), Cat Lovers, Humor Fans, Moving to a New Place Story Fans, Reluctant Readers, Quick Read Fans, Light Scifi Fans, Middle Grade Readers
Sanity & Tallulah series by Molly Brooks
Sanity and Tallulah are best friends. They do everything together on their space station. They watch shows together, go to school together, and get in trouble for using their smarts to create a bioengineered three-headed cat named Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds together. When their kitten escapes and wiring on the space station starts to go haywire at the same time, they have to work together to find their precious kitten before the space station staff does or it will be curtains for Princess Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds.
Overall, it's a space adventure with two smart girls with STEM skills who are fun to follow around, a nice little mystery to solve, a captivating setting, capable adults who recognize the talents of the girls while also holding them to high standards, moments of humor and nerdiness, and a cute three-headed kitty. What more could you want? I'll tell you what you can want. More Sanity & Tallulah stories! And a new one is coming out next month. Yeah!
Target Readers:
- Scifi Fans, Multicultural Cast Fans, Girls in STEM Fans, Cat Lovers, Mystery Sleuths, Graphic Novel Fans, Friendship Story Fans, Action & Adventure Fans, Middle Grade Readers
And two honorable mentions…
Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires
Binky found an application for F.U.R.S.T. (Felines of the Universe Ready for Space Travel) in the bottom of his kitty food. Since then he's been in intense training to become a licensed Space Cat. He's dedicated to fighting alien invaders (which humans call bugs) and exploring space (all areas outside of house). However, once Binky is fully licensed and has his space ship built he realizes that if he leaves no one will be there to protect his humans, and Binky has to make a tough decision.
I’m including this one as an honorable mention because don’t tell Binky but …he never gets to outer space, and the aliens he’s battling probably haven’t been further than down the block. This book is just the start of a whole series of graphic novels in which Binky and then other pets wage war against the alien invasion and protect their homes (FURST changes to PURST when some dogs join the fight, instead of Felines, it is now Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel). I’ve heard that this also just become a cartoon TV series.
Target Readers:
- Cat Lovers, Animal Lovers, Humor Fans, Lower & Middle Grade Readers, Graphic Novel Fans
Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo by Rory Lucey
An imagining of what it was like for Jonesy the cat to live on the Nostromo (a la the first Aliens movie, Alien).
This is a bonus one for those who enjoy the Aliens movies. Do you remember Ripley’s cat? He shows up to get petted every once in a while. Well this is an imagining of what a typical cat would get up to on a spaceship inhabited by both humans and monstrous aliens. It's so cat. And it nods at specific scenes in the movie. It's entirely wordless, but it doesn't need any text. The illustrations say it all.
Target Readers:
- Alien Movie Fans, Cat Lovers, Comic Fans, Scifi Fans, Teen & Adult Readers
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