JILLIAN VS PARASITE PLANET

On Take Your Kid to Work Day, Jillian feels like the luckiest kid in the class—because her parents go to space for their jobs.

Of course, at 11, she’s too young to go with them, but she’s determined to get as close as she possibly can to “all that sweet, sweet space magic.” Her parents lead her on a tour of the StellaTech facility (state of the art for the year 2113), even introducing her to SABRINA, a “Semi-Autonomous Bio-Reconnoitering Intelligent Nanobot Array,” who’s got wit beyond its programming. Jillian’s eagerness for adventure, hunger for information, and utterly relatable anxiety make her an instant classic middle-grade protagonist. It’s the best surprise of her life when her parents take her through the StellaTech portal to an alien planet—and the worst when they crash-land, green worms dissolve most of their supplies, and her parents barely survive. Until their portal back to Earth opens, Jillian has to keep them all alive. Good thing she’s got SABRINA’s quippy help: “You just think Earth is normal because you’re used to it. Trust me, biped, Earth is completely bonkers.” Mentions of Earth’s grim climate reality flesh out the worldbuilding, but the story is hopeful. A few choice black-and-white illustrations also add lighthearted absurdity. Jillian and her parents read as White.

Problem-solving has never been such a wild ride.