Summary
Four feline friends have intergalactic adventures together as they travel to the moon, Mars, the International Space Station, and more in this graphic novel series. This review covers books 1-6.
Recommended Reading Level: 8-12 years old
Mom Thoughts
The premise for this series is hilarious: cat astronauts saving the world. Throughout the series, we see teamwork, selflessness, and hard work, as well as a healthy dose of humor. What is so refreshing about this series is that there is almost no potty humor. For a graphic novel aimed at 6-10-year-olds, this is quite a feat. There is also zero agenda and sexual content.
The illustrations themselves keep a subdued color pallet. While having very realistic-looking spaceships and equipment, the characters themselves remain very simple and cartoon-like, which keeps the tone light. My one gripe with the series is the very occasional use of phrases that are meant to sound like swearing or using slightly crass words, but are not quite. Books one and two are fantastic and don’t add any of these phrases, but books three through six all use one line that I wish was omitted. (See below for phrases.) Overall, this is a refreshing series to find for this age group, but I was quite disappointed in the one or two lines of crass speech in a few of the books.
Questionable Behaviors: The cats make many unwise choices that are meant to be comical like sneaking on a rocket headed to the International Space Station, stealing another astronaut’s ship, or ignoring their work and having a “staycation” instead.
Language: crud, dumb, good luck, dagnabit, brain fart, “cut the carp” and “holy carp,” and “Mother Lode of Cod!”
Other Things to Know: The one potty joke is that something is referred to as a “clump from the litter box.”
The cats find microorganisms on another planet and say “We are not alone in the universe!”
Someone dresses like a ghost.
CatStronauts Series