Ever wonder what it'd be like if a bunch of regular middle school kids got rocketed into space and had to save the day themselves? That's the heart-pounding setup of Space Chasers, the first in a new graphic novel series by former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin.
Tia Valor isn't your typical straight-A student. She's ditching class to wrench on cars at her brother's shop, feeling like she doesn't quite belong anywhere. But when she aces a NASA test on a lark, everything changes. Leland Melvin spots her raw talent, and suddenly she's training with a team of other gifted kids for a mission to an advanced space station. The art by Alison Acton pops with vibrant colors and dynamic panels that make you feel the rush of launch day.
Space doesn't play nice. One glitch after another hits, and Tia's crew finds themselves alone—no grown-ups, just a bunch of tweens facing failing systems, zero-gravity chaos, and threats that could doom them all. They draw on street smarts, quick wits, and lessons from training to hack fixes, reroute power, and keep the station afloat. Joe Caramagna's script keeps the dialogue snappy and real, like kids you'd know bantering under pressure.
This isn't just rockets and lasers; it's about finding your crew, trusting your gut, and turning 'what if I mess up?' into 'we got this.' The story dives into friendship forged in crisis, the thrill of discovery, and that wide-eyed awe of staring down at Earth from orbit. Sensory details shine through—the cold bite of a spacesuit glove, the eerie silence broken by alarms, the stomach-flip of floating free.
Whether your kid's obsessed with Mars rovers or needs a nudge to crack a book, Space Chasers delivers. Read it aloud on family road trips, or let them devour it solo under the covers with a flashlight. It's got that pull—you turn the page, and suddenly it's bedtime past curfew. Launch your young reader's imagination with this out-of-this-world tale, straight from an astronaut who lived it.
