JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW

Bransford’s debut and the first of a series is an outer-space comedy of errors.

Sixth-grader Jacob Wonderbar is the bane of substitute teachers everywhere. When witchy Mrs. Pinkerton tries to get the class under control and somehow her precious mug is shattered, a sprinkler is triggered and the whole class erupts in screams…Jacob gets the blame and his mother has to pick him up. That night, commiserating with his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, they investigate a strange noise in the forest—and a man in silver offers them a spaceship in exchange for a corndog. Next thing the trio knows, they are taking a tour of the solar system aboard Lucy, an opinionated if slightly bored spaceship. Then there’s a little accident that may involve the breaking of the universe. A space pirate, the eating of dirt, the universe’s largest carbon allotrope and a snooty space princess all complicate the trip home…which Jacob isn’t sure he wants to make. It’s the Saturday-morning-cartoon version of Hitchhiker’s Guide even if the laughs aren’t quite so fast and furious (and some of them are a bit of a stretch).

There’s plenty of set-up for future volumes; fans will hope they won’t have to wait long.