Blast Off!

By Andrea J. Loney and Fuuji Takashi

2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist - Juvenile Fiction

As Abby gets used to life in space, can she keep the things that are most important to her from drifting away?

It's the first day of third grade, and Abby Baxter is determined not to make any mistakes. It's a little trickier than it was last year, though, because Abby is starting school on the OASIS International Space Station, where her parents are scientists. Abby is so focused on getting used to microgravity, watching her little brother, Nico, and meeting her new classmates that she almost messes up Mami’s big experiment. Can she figure out how to make things right, or is she destined to be sent back to Earth?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Release date: Nov 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9780807501009

Andrea J. Loney

Andrea J. Loney won a Lee & Low New Voices Award and an NAACP Image Award nomination for her picture book Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee! Her picture book Bunnybear was featured on the ALA Rainbow List, and her picture book Double Bass Blues won a Caldecott Honor for illustrator Rudy Gutierrez. Her work can also be found in the critically acclaimed children’s poetry anthology No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History. Her upcoming books include the picture book biography Curve and Flow: The Elegant Vision of LA Architect Paul R. Williams. A second-generation Girl Scout, a huge spreadsheet fan, and an avid voter, Andrea graduated from New York University with an MFA in dramatic writing. She’s traveled with the Big Apple Circus and worked for the Walt Disney Company. Now she teaches computer science courses at a local community college and writing courses for organizations across the country. Andrea lives in Los Angeles, California, with her towering stacks of children’s books, her devoted family, and their incredibly spoiled pets.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Out of This World

Abby? Are you listening to me? Mami asked as she snapped the barrette on the end of my braid.

Yes, Mami! I said, even if it wasn’t 100 percent, completely, all-the-way true since I was still watching my new tablet. Yes, it was turned off, but it was floating in the air, spinning right in front of me.

We’d only been on the space station for a few days. I wasn’t used to microgravity. Papa said it’s way less gravity than there is on Earth but a tiny bit more gravity than there is on the moon. I just thought it was out-of-this-world amazing and eleventy-seventy kinds of cool.

Things are sooooo different here, I said.

Mami sighed and shook her head. Her swirly, curly crown of black hair looked even more amazing in space.

Wow, Mami, you’re like the queen of the universe.

Mami turned to Papa. Jeremiah, please talk to this child. I need to see if NASA updated the coordinates for today’s experiment. She stretched out her tablet and started typing.

So, Abby. The twinkle in Papa’s eye meant a big fat pun was coming. Why did the little astronaut get in trouble at school?

I knew that one. Because she kept spacing out!

That’s my girl! Papa laughed. You’re ready for the third grade.

But was I? Things were so different. Last year Nico and I still went to school on Earth with school buses, cupcakes, and rain puddles on the playground. There were crayons. There was gravity. But none of that existed on the international space station, OASIS.

All last year our whole family was far, far apart. Mami was running a big project up here on the OASIS. Papa was programming 3D-printing labs on the moon. My little brother, Nico, and I stayed in Houston with Nana Sherry and her yappy little dog who hates kids. Then they opened the new Schoolhouse Academy on the OASIS, so our family was finally back together again.

At least for now.

I think I’m ready, Papa, I just—

"¡Mira! Take my picture, Mami!" Nico somersaulted in the air, then whirled to a stop. Upside down. With his feet in my face.

Eww! Nico! His socks smelled like sweat and peppermint. Who gets toothpaste on their toes?

I double-checked my shirt to make sure it was tucked into my pants all the way around—no rainbow stars peeking out the back. Even if they were my lucky undies, I

Reviews for Blast Off!

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a cute book! Abby and her family are believable, relatable, and in spaaaaaace. It's a great storyline for beginning readers, the illustrations are excellent, and Abby and her new friends are going to be fun to follow.