Zero Gravity (Astronaut Academy Series)

by Dave Roman, Dave Roman (Illustrator)

Overview

Hakata Soy's past life as the leader of a futuristic super team won't stay in the past!

The former space hero is doing his best to keep his head down at Astronaut Academy. Things aren't going so great, though. The most popular girl in school has it in for him. His best friend won't return his calls. And his new roommate is a complete jock who only cares about Fireball.

Hakata just wants to make a fresh start. But how will he find time to study Anti-Gravity Gymnastics and Tactical Randomness when he's got a robot doppelganger on its way to kill him?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596436206
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	06/07/2011
Series:	Astronaut Academy , #1
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	712,604
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Two-time New York Times bestselling writer-illustrator Dave Roman is the creator of Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery. Roman has contributed stories to the Flight series, and has written comics and manga for X-Men and The Last Airbender. He lives in New York City with his wife, Raina Telgemeier.

Reading Group Guide

About the Academy:

Astronaut Academy is the school with the most reasons to attend. It is tops with the learning! With classes like advanced heart studies, anti-gravity gymnastics, wearing cute hats, run-on sentences, and locker!, who would not want to be a student at this school? Now, EVEN YOU have the opportunity to attend Astronaut Academy.

Application:

Do you have a Secret Origin Story that may end up causing structural damages to the school? Please list any and all possibilities.

Why is everyone's least favorite class always Locker!? We are thinking of taking it off the curriculum. Wouldn't you enjoy Locker!?

Are you planning in participating in Advanced Heart Studies? If so, how many hearts are you currently in possession of? Please provide substantiating documentation from anyone whose heart is currently in your care.

Students attending Astronaut Academy's rival P.S. Gamma are distinguished by their tendency to have too much hair. Do you have too much hair? Are you sure you do not want to attend P.S. Gamma Q?

Are you an evil robot bent on destroying the school and/or one or more of its pupils? If so, please rate the likelihood of your redemption from evil. Also provide your make, model, and serial number (with supporting records).

What are your life aspirations? Do they involve dinosaurs? Or cute hats? If not, why not? Don't you enjoy dinosaurs and cute hats?

Students at Astronaut Academy have a truly insane amount of fun. What makes you think your own fragile corporeal body would be able to handle such intensely high Fun Levels? Answer in your own words, providing a corroborative note from your family physician (must be certified in space medicine).

Please rate your desire to attend Astronaut Academy, where 1 is ‘never in a thousand years' and 10 is ‘awesomesauce!' Write a paragraph explaining your rating choice.

All students applying for entry to Astronaut Academy must have at least three personal character references. At least one must be from a panda (though if you have no panda references, a giraffe-reference may be accepted, but only in exceptional circumstances).

All applications must be submitted to the empty void of space.
We will get back to you entirely at random.

Editorial Reviews

Roman previously adapted the X-men as a shojo manga, so he certainly knows his way around the "special academy" story. This time out, it's the story of mech-riding superhero/ordinary school kid Hakata Soy, and his attempt to make a fresh start at a new orbital school filled with a bunch of colorful, aspirational classmates. Hakata struggles with the typical social drama of middle school, as well as the occasional evil twin robot assassin. It's a zany setup designed more for random fight scenes and one-liners, and the book contains a mix of short stories and one-page gag strips. The dialogue reflects this, with the kind of manic every-line-has-to-be-a-joke dialogue that reflects contemporary kids' cartoons like The Fairly OddParents. The artwork is very cartoony and cute, and uses free-floating layouts to add to the whimsy. Ages 10–14. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Roman previously adapted the X-men as a shojo manga, so he certainly knows his way around the "special academy" story. ...The artwork is very cartoony and cute, and uses free-floating layouts to add to the whimsy." - Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Gr 3 Up—This charming graphic adventure follows the exploits of child space hero Hakata Soy. Enrolled in an intergalactic boarding school, he navigates his way through the over-the-top personalities of many of his melodramatic classmates. An element of danger is added when fellow hero Gadget creates a new best friend—a robotic duplicate of Hakata Soy that includes one of his "broken hearts." This robot is co-opted by villainous bird people that set him upon the academy to kill his flesh-and-blood doppelganger. While this title is obviously geared for and can be enjoyed by school-age children, there is also tongue-and-cheek humor that older readers are sure to enjoy. Each supporting character is highlighted in mini-chapters, which gives the book a kind of newspaper comic-strip feel. The black-and-white pencil illustrations invoke the artistic style of a manga, but many of Roman's unique theatrical elements, including boys concerned with "cool hair" and wheeled dinosaurs used for moon racing, create a universe unto its own.—Ryan Donovan, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

This book will make readers want to flip through the author's doodle pad, in case he has ideas that are even wilder.

Dinosaurs show up early in the book. They're in outer space. They come with wheels, so students at Astronaut Academy can race them. The school also has a time-traveling panda and a league of villains in footy pajamas. There is a plot here—something about a student being chased by his robot double—but Roman is more interested in playing with language than anything else. He uses intentionally awkward syntax ("ATTACKING is something frowned upon by people because someone may get hurt in the process") and made-up spelling: At one point he even uses "bee" as a verb, as in "To bee or not to bee." Some readers may be looking for a more focused plot—the author seems just to be finding his footing in the early chapters—but it's hard not to like a school where Wearing Cute Hats is on the lesson plan. Fans of Harry Potter or Archie comics might appreciate the romances among the students. As in those series, the couples don't get together in the first volume, but there are talking bunnies to see in the meantime. Some of them know karate chops.

Roman's quirks may irritate a few readers, but many children will run to their own scratch pads to draw fierce bunnies, wearing cute hats.(Graphic novel. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews