Space Dumplins

by Craig Thompson

Overview

Highly acclaimed graphic novelist Craig Thompson's debut book for young readers about a plucky heroine on a mission to save her dad.

For Violet Marlocke, family is the most important thing in the whole galaxy. So when her father goes missing while on a hazardous job, she can't just sit around and do nothing. To get him back, Violet throws caution to the stars and sets out with a group of misfit friends on a quest to find him. But space is vast and dangerous, and she soon discovers that her dad is in big, BIG trouble. With her father's life on the line, nothing is going to stop Violet from trying to rescue him and keep her family together.Visionary graphic novel creator Craig Thompson brings all of his wit, warmth, and humor to create a brilliantly drawn story for all ages. Set in a distant yet familiar future, Space Dumplins weaves themes of family, friendship, and loyalty into a grand space adventure filled with quirky aliens, awesome spaceships, and sharp commentary on our environmentally challenged world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545565431
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	270,721
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Craig Thompson is a critically-acclaimed graphic novelist best known for his books Good-Bye, Chunky Rice, Blankets, Carnet de Voyage, and Habibi. Thompson has received three Eisner Awards, four Harvey Awards, and two Ignatz Awards. In 2007, his cover design for the Menomena album Friend and Foe received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package. Craig lives in Los Angeles, Califorina.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/07/2015
A third of the way into Thompson's first graphic novel for young readers, his heroine Violet mishears "eschatological" as "scatological." Oddly enough, both adjectives fit the story to a T. Poop is everywhere in Violet's itinerant, extraterrestrial existence—neon green space whale poop, that is. Violet's father, a "lumberjack," harvests it for money (it's an important energy source), while her mother works in the fashion industry; the family's financial stresses are as keenly felt as the tension between blue-collar and creative-class work. When a toxic whale diarrhea spill threatens widespread disaster, and Violet's father goes missing, she is thrust into a position to save the day, joined by Elliot, a timid chicken plagued by portentous visions, and Zacchaeus, a rowdy alien who may be the last of his kind. Thompson (Habibi) has created a richly imagined and gorgeously illustrated universe, and his candy-colored palette belies the class divisions, environmental woes, and corporate/industrial dominance of Violet's future. It's a wild and funny escapade, undergirded by a tender portrait of a family just trying to get by. Ages 8–12. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"I love Space Dumplins!"--Jeff Smith, creator of BONE"Craig Thompson has created a new genre: the Adorable Epic."--Joss Whedon, director and writer, The Avengers; creator of Buffy the Vampire SlayerPraise for Space Dumplins:* "With thrilling adventure, a stalwart, good-hearted hero, some well-timed laughs, and a meaningful message at its heart, this is will surely be a star."--Booklist, starred review* "It's a wild and funny escapade, undergirded by a tender portrait of a family just trying to get by."--Publishers Weekly, starred reviewPraise for Habibi:* "It is unfair to expect two masterpieces in a row from anyone, but here Thompson sits securely in that rarefied air."--Booklist, starred review* "A lushly epic love story that's both inspiring and heartbreaking… A dense, swirling dervish of a tale…this will be the most talked about graphic novel of the fall."--Publishers Weekly, starred review* "The exquisite beauty and deep magic of this Arabian Nights-style love story cannot be overstated...Habibi is certain to join the ranks of graphic novels that expand our understanding of not only the genre but also the world it describes.”--School Library Journal, starred reviewPraise for Blankets:* "His visual mastery shows in fluid line work, assured compositions, and powerful use of solid black areas and negative space."--Booklist, starred review"His exceptional b&w drawings balance representational precision with a bold and wonderfully expressive line for pages of ingenious, inventively composed and poignant imagery."--Publishers Weekly"This second, much longer work shares the acuity for character development and dynamic sensitivity that makes the author so compulsively readable."--School Library Journal

From the Publisher

2015-06-06
In a galaxy far, far away, a young girl and her motley crew of friends fight to save her father and the solar system from a destructive fleet of space whales. After exhausting all other fuel sources, inhabitants of the universe now rely on the waste of planet-eating space whales, which is processed by "lumberjacks" like Violet's dad. Her impoverished family lives in a trailer park on a perilously stationary asteroid, unlike the upper-crust, who reside on perpetually moving, fuel-dependent space stations, where her mother is a day laborer. Lured by danger and money, her father agrees to an impossible mission and ends up missing. Violet and her newfound gang of friends—an erudite young rooster named Elliot who identifies himself as a chicken, an alien claiming to be the last of his kind, and a gang of her father's old cronies—embark on a quest to save her dad from a space whale and help stop a deluge of whale dysentery from drowning the solar system, but they learn that his disappearance is a part of something larger and more sinister. Thompson's art is wild and busy, with overcrowded, unconventional panel structures. The worldbuilding is a strikingly imaginative pastiche that seamlessly blends biblical references, poop jokes, and social satire. Fans of Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl series should gravitate to this offering. A weird and wonderful intergalactic tale. (Graphic science fiction. 7-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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