SAVING COSMO

An adorable craft project come to life must be protected from evil scientists.

This third book in the My Pet Slime series opens with Piper and friends already in danger, kidnapped and held in the MaLa labs after the cliffhanger ending of Cosmo to the Rescue (2020). Piper, an artist, is protecting her friend Cosmo, who’s “made out of normal slime, plus paint.” Piper had made a slime just like any brightly colored crafts project, but when some of her astronaut grandmother’s space dust landed on Cosmo, he’d come alive. Now Piper, her school friend, and Grandma Sadie must escape the wicked scientists of MaLa using only intrepid cleverness, secret passages, and glitter. Sadie is not just a scientist, she’s also a T-shirt–wearing, motorcycle-driving, useful grandmother. The frequent, brightly colored illustrations accentuate the big-eyed adorableness of Cosmo. All the characters lack physical descriptions, but most of the characters are illustrated as light-skinned except for Grandma Sadie’s friend Eric, who has dark brown skin. The exciting escape moves zippily enough to drown out some mild inconsistencies as well as the silliness of both heroes’ and villains’ schemes, and Piper’s affection for her alien pet is charmingly accessible. Several pages of backmatter offer a couple of extension activities and notes on Sally Ride (identified as LGBTQ+) and SpaceX.

Who hasn’t wished they could save the day with their origami or glitter skills?