The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza
by Mac Barnett; illus. by Shawn Harris
Primary, Intermediate    Tegen/HarperCollins    320 pp.   g
5/22    978-0-06-308408-7    $15.99
e-book ed.  978-0-06-308410-0    $10.99

What began as an online storytelling experiment between Barnett and Harris during COVID-19 has been adapted into a graphic novel. This wacky space opera follows a crew of unlikely heroes on a mission to stop a horde of moon-eating rats. The cybernetically enhanced First Cat, along with a brave moon princess and friendly toenail-clipping robot, travel to the dark side of the moon, where they encounter a bloodthirsty baby pirate, a thieving team of disembodied hands, and a three-headed Rat King. The breakneck, stream-of-consciousness plot can be dizzying but never fails to be entertaining. Barnett’s fast-paced dialogue, pleasing non sequiturs, and humorous wordplay (“Oh my Uncle Tony’s hot calzoney”) are amplified by Harris’s impressive illustrations. An invitingly simple thick crayon-like line is employed throughout the comic, from its cartoony imagery to panel borders to lettering. The surprisingly earnest themes of friendship and individual purpose combined with the absurd humor should resonate with this audience.

From the July/August 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.