School for Extraterrestrial Girls, Volume 1

Starred review from June 1, 2020
A studious girl's regimented life is turned upside down when she learns she isn't human. Fifteen-year-old Tara Smith has always carefully followed her parents' strictures--dutifully completing chores and assignments, routinely taking medications, and always wearing her mandated bracelet--even though kids at school call her weird. When she spontaneously combusts during class one day, she learns that she is a reptilian alien prone to impromptu self-immolation. She is assigned to the School for Extraterrestrial Girls, an all-girls establishment for aliens seeking to prove loyalty to Earth in order to remain there. Tara meets roommates Summer and Misako, who wear bracelets like Tara's: This hides their true forms, showing only their human defaults. When Tara reacts badly to seeing Summer's true tentacled form, she feels too ashamed to apologize. Tara then uncovers an uncomfortable truth about Misako: that her own race slaughtered nearly all of Misako's lineage. She tries to hide this but is outed; how can she make things right with her roommates? Exploring racism, bias, and belonging, Whitley and Noguchi's delightful, full-color graphic novel is almost exclusively female, and their characterizations, both main and secondary, encompass a varied spectrum of body types, skin colors, and cultural representations: Main character Tara has brown skin; Summer has light-brown skin and a tall, muscled physique; Misako has Asian features; and one professor is curvy and wears a headscarf while another dons a sari. Engaging science fiction that is fiercely female-forward. (Graphic science fiction. 9-12)

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August 1, 2020

Gr 6 Up-Tara, 15, has spent her whole life obeying the rules her parents have set for her. Convinced that if she follows their exacting regimen, she will accomplish great things. Tara gets her wish to become extraordinary when she inadvertently breaks her routine and spontaneously combusts during trigonometry. Tara realizes that nothing about her previous life was real and that she is in fact an alien. She's faced with two choices: get shipped back to her home system, which up until now she never knew existed, or stay on Earth and join a school for extraterrestrial girls, where she will learn how to live with both her true self and the other races of the galaxy. The characters in this graphic novel are a joy, depicted with wings, tentacles, fur, scales, and other weird and wonderful features. The palette is appealing, with bold, saturated colors highlighting the student variety and simple yet futuristic backgrounds that allow character development to take center stage. A varied panel layout advances the action smoothly and creates lots of drama. VERDICT An engaging title with an entertaining story and deft use of color and design. The clever premise will entice readers, who will eagerly anticipate future installments in this new series.-Kelley Gile, Cheshire P.L., CT

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