EUDORA SPACE KID

Nine-year-old math and science whiz Eudora Jenkins lives with her family and many others on the space fleet flagship Athena. The inhabitants of this vessel represent the 20 planets in the Planetary Republic. Eudora’s mother is from Pox and resembles an anthropomorphic gray wolf, and her dad, of Pow, looks like an octopus—neither of them much resembles their two adopted human daughters. Life in outer space can be fun but not when Eudora’s goody-two-shoes older sister Molly gets the lead in the school play. Eudora pulls a prank during a performance, which gets her in trouble and earns her a trip to the surprisingly comfy brig. Later, she craves a game of Woggle (a word-based game similar to Boggle); most people are too busy to play, but Eudora finally finds an opponent in Lt. Cmdr. Walter, Athena’s sole, very expensive, robot officer. After she repeatedly loses the game, she throws a fit and accidentally breaks Walter, who stops functioning entirely. To avoid trouble, she hooks Walter up to a “remote-control-person device” of her own design. With her human bestie Arnold providing Walter’s voice through a voice box, they manage to make the robot officer seem somewhat like his normal self as he traverses the flagship. But an unexpected threat from the Qlaxons, the Planetary Republic’s greatest enemies, complicates Eudora’s plan.  

The young protagonist’s continuing misadventures make for an entertaining read. The author gives the story a life lesson as well: Eudora may be acting out, but she learns that talking about your feelings is better than suppressing them. The novel also promotes acceptance, as in the case of Arnold’s stepdad, Lt. Londo, a Qlaxon (whose lionlike appearance makes him impossible to miss); despite planet Qlaxonia’s bad reputation, Londo is unquestionably respected (“Arnold loves his cool Qlaxon dad. Except when they do math homework. Math is very important to Londo, and he can be tough about it”) and serves as the ship’s chief of security. The nonhuman cast includes individuals with appearances akin to familiar Earth animals, including an alligator and a bird. Tondora’s black-and-white artwork beautifully captures the diverse species aboard Athena. Facial expressions are especially remarkable, from Eudora’s exaggerated frown/eye-roll combo to the infectious smiles of so many characters. The 9-year-old’s first-person narrative is, perhaps unsurprisingly, mostly lighthearted. Eudora explains things clearly and concisely for younger readers, such as the basic rules of the game Woggle. Her antics provoke laughter as she and Arnold struggle to make certain Walter doesn’t look stiff and unnatural like a more traditional metallic robot. Unfortunately, the resolutions to both the Walter dilemma and the Qlaxon threat are overly tidy and unimaginative. But there’s plenty here for readers of all ages to enjoy, and they’ll surely savor another installment with this gleefully brash and brainy girl.