Giddy joy abounds in The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella

Joy and utter happiness, there was a character in one episode of Phineas & Ferb that always amped up a party. It was the one where Cheesetopia in their backyard happened, and Perry was turned into a butler for Doofenshmirtz. The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella is a kid’s first graphic novel that lives and breathes happiness. Its colors, glossy pages, big illustrations, and emotive characters lovingly scream off of the pages in a way that will make early elementary school readers immediately attracted to the book.

Astrid and Stella is cut from the same cloth as Hello! Lucky, the irrepressibly happy series of picture books by Sabrina and Eunice Moyle. Due to the nature of picture books, their adventures have been short and more concentrated on stories that revolve around simple lessons like sharing and being kind. The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella is longer, funnier, more adventurous, and is quite simply a bigger version of the fun that younger readers have with Hello! Lucky.

Astrid and Stella are two astronauts. They’re about to blast off in their rocket to explore space, but before they leave the confounds of Earth, they exchange lots of puns, have a dance break, get their talking robot to help them, get a snack, tell some jokes, and then blast off. Once they’re zipping through the black void they receive a distress signal from Caturn, the legendary planet of space cats.

This confirms my theory that if you ask any early elementary school-aged student what they like to read about, then cats and ninjas will be in the top three. For some students, unicorns might be that third entry, even if it’s not, Astrid and Stella has lots of laughs to offer first through third graders. This graphic novel is broken up into three chapters, with the third one having our duo, plus the friendly talking robot, to a new planet. This is the coolest planet in the galax-sea and is comprised totally of massive-sized critters that are normally found in water. Expect lots of puns, happy animals, and beach party fun as they solve an issue or two on this new planet.

 Astrid and Stella is that graphic novel that’s always happy. The back pages of the front and back cover are bright pink. There are pops of color on every page. The character’s emotions range from mock-sadness, to happy, to maniacally happy to playfully grumpy. There are traditional elements of a longer-form story, such as rising and falling action, as well as, the climax. That, plus the fact that there are chapters, and that this is a graphic novel, which is what their cool, older classmates are reading will make the book something that those young grades will like.

It’s not much thicker than the early reader chapter books that ages six and up might be reading. What will increase the confidence of those young readers is that it’s that much thicker, so much more colorful, delightfully silly, and a book that they’ll willingly spend time reading by themselves. Astrid and Stell won’t extend much past those ages, for example, fifth graders will be able to read it with ease, but it’s not geared for those ages. This is confidence reading that’ll get young elementary into the habit of picking up a book and letting their imagination do the work whilst they read along.

The Cosmic Adventures of Astrid and Stella is by Sabrina Moyle with illustrations by Eunice Moyle and available on Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams Books.

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