Review: Legends of Zita the Spacegirl

Fame comes at a price...

Zita must find her way back to earth...but her space adventures have made her a galactic megastar! Who can you trust when your true self is overshadowed by your public image? And to make things worse...Zita's got a robot double making trouble--while wearing her face!

Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke is the first Zita book I've read.  They're really popular in my school's library, so when I had the chance to snag a copy, I did!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love graphic novels.  They look easy, but they're deceptive.  You have to do a lot of inferring (by "reading" the pictures) to be able to understand the story.  And that's such a hard skill to learn.  But, if you can do it with a GN, you can do it with any story.  You just need to figure out how to transfer that skill.

Anyway, back to Zita!  Unfortunately, since I haven't read any others, I don't know the backstory of her, Mouse, Piper and the cute little robots.  It didn't really hinder my overall understanding of the story, it was just something I wondered about. 

Zita is smart and sassy; what a hero should be.  But, she's also a homesick little girl.  She wants to help others and be the hero, but she also just wants to go home.  And that plays a part in the book.  She did make an unexpected (to me) choice that has to do with that....but in the end, I think its for the best. 

I think my favorite character is Mouse, though.  He's so cute (there is a panel of him cuddled up with his friend, Cat, and I just awwwwwwed for a good 30 seconds).  But he's also loyal.  He saves Zita.  I hope we see more of him.