Reviews

Astronuts Mission One: The Plant Planet, by Jon Scieszka

kverity's review

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I will recommend this to students who want more books of the Bad Guys series type, but honestly, this didn't have the narrative pull for me that some of the other series had. The main gag was based on the main characters' stupidity, which I just thought got annoying after a while. It does have a lot of discussion of climate change and some scientific concepts explained for younger kids. 

jmanchester0's review

4.0

Pretty funny introduction to climate science - you don‰ЫЄt even realize it‰ЫЄs about climate science!

The science in it seems pretty good, too! It‰ЫЄs always nice to have a fun learning experience. Recommended - both for learning and for fun!

Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for a copy in return for an honest review.

cosbrarian's review

3.0

I was, like many of my generation, a huge Scieszka fan (The Stinky Cheese Man, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, etc), so I figured I’d be in for a weird and enjoyable ride. This one was a lot more weird than enjoyable – not his best. But it did have some fun aspects. My favorite thing about this was the Narrator, Planet Earth herself, and she is wildly passive-aggressive through the whole thing, commenting frequently on how humans are really destroying her. I can definitely get behind a planet on the offense. I also like that LaserShark was the most femme of the creatures, haha. She was delightful.

But isn’t it a little weird to craft a book about ecology and saving the planet where the main characters were basically animal experiments? I guess there’s something poetic to animals saving the day, but whenever I think of animals in space, I think of the actual animals we sent into space, and that just makes me sad.

And the format was just a little too bizarre, and the humor doesn’t totally land. It might land with Captain Underpants fans though.

howifeelaboutbooks's review

4.0

I was so grateful to get this book from @ChronicleKidsBooks. I’ve been a fan of Jon Scieszka since falling in love with The Stinky Cheese Man in elementary school. I’ve read many of his other books over the years, and was so happy to see he’s continuing the silliness. AstroNuts is a totally wacky book about four animals who were trained as astronauts to help find a new planet if/when humans wrecked Earth. Except there was a typo in the information, so instead of being skilled astronauts, the animals are AstroNUTS! They live up to their name and turn their adventure into a big crazy mess. The writing style of this book was so fun and easy to read, and the art style is amazing - collage and sketch, with explanations at the back of the book about how illustrator Steven Weinberg made the art. I’ve already loaned my copy to one student, who read it in one night. I have plans to use the book as a mentor text for creative writing lessons, because it shows that writing and art don’t have to be serious, and you don’t have to be “grown up” (no offense, Scieszka and Weinberg) to create a great book.

christaboveall2105's review

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

etienne02's review

1.0

Trying to hard to get original and funny. Just a lot of nonsense and absurd stuff. Not good!