Akiko on the Planet Smoo
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- 5,49 €
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- 5,49 €
Publisher Description
When this fourth-grader comes home from school one day, she finds an envelope waiting for her with no stamp and no return address. The message inside reads Dear Akiko: We are coming to get you. Meet us outside your bedroom window tonight at 8:00. Don't forget your toothbrush. How could anyone meet her outside her window? She lives on the 17th floor, for goodness sake. But that evening, as Akiko is preparing to study for tomorrow's geography test, she finds a small spacecraft hovering outside her window with two odd little men inside. They have been sent to whisk Akiko off to the Planet Smoo where she will lead a team enlisted to find the King of Smoo's kidnapped son, Prince Froptoppit. Akiko, the leader of a rescue mission? She's too timid to be on the school's safety patrol! So begins Akiko's adventure across the land of Smoo to find a prince and become a leader.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this stylish debut, aliens from the Planet Smoo summon an Earth girl to find a kidnapped prince. Fourth-grader Akiko admits she has no experience as a rescuer: "I'm only ten years old... I don't have many years of anything." Nevertheless, Smoo's humanoid King Froptoppit insists that she help him to retrieve the prince from "an evil, misguided" Alia Rellapor. As exasperated yet compliant as Alice at the Mad Tea Party, Akiko agrees to lead the mission. The novel gets off to a rollicking start as she meets her teammates, among them a Han Solo-like spaceship pilot and a being called Poog, "a floating head... covered by pale purple-white skin that shimmered like smooth leather." Crilley gives Akiko a conversational voice and global flair. With her chunky pigtails and oversize eyes, the character looks like a cross between an anime character and a Raggedy Ann doll; her comical cyborg sidekicks recall sources as varied as Douglas Adams and Tintin author Herge. The rescuers spend the rest of the book battling and escaping a ruthless band of Sky Pirates and never even glimpse Alia Rellapor. After a dramatic buildup, Crilley leaves his well-drawn characters idling in outer space, awaiting the sequel. Those who prefer closure may be disappointed, but everyone else will likely stay on to complete the ride. All ages.
