I'm super excited today to be a part of the promotional tour for the newest release in Ben Hatke's best-selling graphic novel series, Zita the Spacegirl. I'm typically not a huge graphic novel reader for no other reason than I simply never think to pick them up, but I've recently discovered the error of my ways and couldn't be happier I was given the opportunity to read Zita.
The fabulous group at First Second Books asked tour participants to share their favorite thing about this series in either written or artistic form, and since graphics come far easier to me than words, I designed a special Zita the Spacegirl poster. Before I share that though, let me just say what a truly outstanding trilogy this is, humor and creativity combining with a standout young heroine to make an afternoon of reading fly by.
I have to admit the humor element was an unexpected delight, catching me off guard a number of times and forcing me to snort in public:)
My absolute favorite thing about this series though is Zita's unwavering loyalty to her many and varied friends. She meets a number of individuals–human and otherwise–on her travels, and whether she's known them minutes or months she's the first to come to their aid and the last one out of harm's way so as to make sure they all get out ahead of her.
Mr. Hatke's creativity is nothing short of remarkable; the creatures that inhabit the various worlds Zita visits an intriguing assortment of both organic and mechanized species, so it's this element I wanted to play with in my Zita design. There's a book Zita flips through in the first volume when searching for the entity that took one of her friends, so I tried to create something that might appear in this book right alongside the rest of Mr. Hatke's imaginings.
One thing I noticed while reading is that Zita's closest group of friends is predominantly male, so I thought it might be fun to add a girlfriend for her to the mix. With that idea in mind, I came up with with an owl/octopus hybrid creature concept and named her Maddie :) I hope you all like her, and I honestly can't recommend this series enough!
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Zita the Spacegirl Volume 3
Ben Hatke brings back our intrepid space heroine for another delightful sci-fi/fantasy adventure in this New York Times‑Bestselling graphic novel trilogy for middle grade readers.
Zita the Spacegirl has saved planets, battled monsters, and wrestled with interplanetary fame. But she faces her biggest challenge yet in the third and final installment of the Zita adventures. Wrongfully imprisoned on a penitentiary planet, Zita has to plot the galaxy's greatest jailbreak before the evil prison warden can execute his plan of interstellar domination!
