ALIEN ESCAPE

Explore space with Geronimo Stiltonix, futuristic analog of the familiar Geronimo Stilton.

Geronimo Stiltonix, captain of the prestigious MouseStar 1, “would rather be writing novels than steering a spaceship.” His crew’s made up of, in part, other familiar Stilton characters with -ix added to their last names, the personal assistant robot Assistatrix and all-purpose robot Robotix. He may be captain, but Geronimo is the last to find out that his spaceship is in danger of exploding. To stabilize the engine, they must obtain the rare element tetrastellium. Luckily, a nearby planet, Rattos, might have some. Upon arriving, they are hailed by friendly pink mousoids who offer them tetrastellium. But their tetrastellium is pink instead of the customary blue. Even stranger, despite the great value and rarity of tetrastellium, the pink mousoids refuse any payment but friendship. Suspicious, Geronimo and a team go to Rattos’ surface on reconnaissance. Sure enough, strange pink happenings onboard the ship presage the takeover of the control room by an evil, sentient mass of pink goo. It takes clever thinking by the away team to defeat the goo and save the ship. The format includes the customary Stilton staples: wild types and colors, playful illustrations and sidebars that elaborate on aspects of the fictional world.

With a story like an old-fashioned episode of Star Trek, this is a wonderful science-fiction introduction for young readers.