8 Great Graphic Novels About Kids in Space

Cleopatra in Space: Target Practice, and The Thief and the Sword, by Mike Maihack
Back in ancient Egypt, young Cleopatra triggered a time travel device that sent her off to a galaxy far in the future. There, civilization is threatened by an evil megalomaniac, and Cleo finds that an ancient prophecy predicts she will be the savior of the galaxy!
The first book, Target Practice, is tremendously exciting–not only does it set the stage, but there’s also much adventure. Cleo is sent to an alien planet to recover an ancient artifact, a fabled sword, fighting off aliens and robots in the process. The sequel, The Thief and the Sword, is less hectic, with Cleo navigating her new reality of school (some things, like Algebra, transcend space and time), and becoming friends with her classmates. But all is not peaceful (threats of universal destruction aside). A young boy thief, hired by the evil megalomaniac, steals the sword Cleo had recovered in the first book, and since this particular sword is involved in the ancient prophecy, it must be found again. So Cleo, her friends, and a wise cat professor set off into space to find it…and the book ends with a cliffhanger that promises lots of action to come.
These are especially good books for cat lovers, as talking cats play important roles.

The Zita the Spacegirl series, by Ben Hatke
Zita is another girl who finds herself whisked from Earth into Space when she and her friend Joseph find an enigmatic device. It has a red button on it, and Zita, an adventurous type, presses it, and a portal opens, from which comes a monstrous tentacled being that takes Joseph away. Blaming herself, Zita presses the button again, and leaps through to a very alien planet. There she searches for Joseph, meeting friends, enemies, and all things in between…but will her rag-tag bunch of companions (a giant rodent, a know-it-all battle bot, a squeaky robot, and the alien Strong-Strong), a bit of magic courtesy of the enigmatic Piper, and the courage of her convictions be enough to save Joseph from his captors?

In the second book, Legends of Zita the Spacegirl,  Zita finds she’s become a hero. Pestered by fans, she’s relieved when a robot impersonating her appears. But the robot is all too eager to take Zita’s place, and blasts off on an interstellar rescue mission, leaving Zita and her friend, Mouse, marooned. With the help of an intergalactic circus, Zita and Mouse are soon off to face an alien danger of epic proportions. But the path they take brings them afoul of the law, and defeating the aliens requires a terrible sacrifice.

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl wraps things up nicely, but leaves open the possibility for more stories (which would be great!). This is the darkest book of the series, as Zita’s situation is grim. She is a prisoner, sentenced to work in the mines on a brutal prison planet. But with the help of new friends (just as imaginatively bizarre!) and old, Zita wins out, and she and Joseph make it home again.

Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity, and Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry, by Dave Roman
My boys love both Cleo and Zita, but this is the series that almost brought them to blows over whose room they would be kept in. Astronaut Academy is a boarding school in space where students arrive in robot-cat school buses. To this school comes new kid Hakata Soy, a boy with a heroic past.  But the foiled bad guys want revenge…and Hakata is followed to Astronaut Academy by trouble. The story jumps between the points of view of multiple students—the ultra rich bratty girl, the jock, the loner, and (my favorite character) Miyumi San, an outsider girl, and many more. There is someone for just about anyone to relate too and sympathize with. And the strangeness of the school is very entertaining—the Spanish teacher is a panda, another teacher an elf, and another a bunny, and the curriculum includes dinosaur-driving lessons.
The central story line of the second book, Re-Entry,  isn’t the excitement of the sci-fi game of Fireball (though the big Fireball tournament is important), or the way Hakata makes peace with his past, or even the defeat of a heart- stealing fiendish monster from space. More important (to me at least) are the emotional arcs of the kids as they navigate the world of school and friendship and parental expectations (at a wacky school in space, but still deeply relatable).
I love these books!

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle and Hope Larson
The final book on this list is a classic story brought to beautiful graphic novel form. A Wrinkle in Time is certainly a story that deserves a wide audience, and it’s great that it’s now accessible to those who prefer to read graphic novels. The thoughts and words of the characters that I can almost quote verbatim have been kept, along with the descriptive elements (including Meg’s travels through time and space to strange otherworlds), which are captured very nicely indeed by the straightforward, blue, black, and white illustrations. The pictures help the words along in a depiction of Meg’s whole journey, from the storm that begins things, through to her rescue of her little brother from a dark, alien planet.  It will please fans of the original, and make new fans of the story.
What graphic novels do your kids love?