Most of the students and teachers are perplexed by the new student. Some want to be friends with Hakata, others are destined to be enemies. But everyone wants to know why he's not as cool as he used to be. (Hakata is actually on the run from enemies he ran afoul of and is trying to lay low.)
Astronaut Academy reminds me of a series of books from the 80s called Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Each chapter focuses on one character and their perspectives and interactions with others. Each segment can be read alone as it's own story or together as a thrilling novel about bravery and friendship.
This book started off really strange. The flow just felt all wrong for some reason. Some of this is because the first 2-3 segments are framed like TV-commercials for the academy. But it's not until we meet the character of Hiro does things really seem to gel.
Hiro loves to space walk. He is so fond of it, he always wears his space suit. Often he sneaks out of class to play hooky by floating in space. Honestly, his static look at life makes him the star of this book.
Once characters like Hiro kept popping back up into the story, I felt like we had a winner on our hands. The art is a little crude but the overall story is enjoyable once a solid continuity was created. If your child enjoys books on life at a strange schools like Wayside or the Jedi Academy series, Astronaut Academy would be another fun place for youngsters to tour.
Only 1 other book (AA: Re-Entry) has been published in this series by the versatile Roman. It make take about 30 pages to really hit it's stride, but this series is worth sticking around with. This book by First: Second is lots of fun to read. It would make an ideal summer reader!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars.
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