Rocket Girls: The Last Planet

July 1, 2011

Gr 7-9-Shy, academic Akane is the latest "rocket girl" to be recruited by the Solomon Space Association, a new program that keeps the cost of space travel down by using very small orbiters. Their recruits are all petite teenaged girls who wear skintight space suits. At one point, an American astronaut wonders, "What is this, some kind of anime?" Though the cute-girls-in-space scenario is a little gratuitous, the story sticks mainly to the science of space flight and the suspense of the girls' risky trips. The facts and figures may go over the heads of many teens, but the book reads about as fast as a manga (it has been adapted for an anime) and should appeal to both manga and science-fiction fans.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

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