Graphic Novel Review: Grace Needs Space by Benjamin A. Wilgus and Rii Abrego

Grace Needs Space by Benjamin A. Wilgus and Rii Abrego (illustrations). RH Graphic, 2023. 9780593182390.

Grace lives on Genova Station with her mom, Evelyn, an engineer who seems to get how to keep Grace involved and interested in making their house a home. Grace is excited because she’s soon going to Titan with her Ba, Kendra, on a two-week trip in her cargo ship Sadie Goat. But her Ba is late. And when the trip is finally underway her Ba doesn’t want her touching anything on the ship (she’s particular, and it’s all delicate). On Titan when Grace wants to see the sights (trees, plants, the largest lake in the solar system that’s not on Earth) her Ba has no time because she’s dealing with work. Grace meets some local kids and stows away on their field trip to Kraken Mare, where she touches the surface of Titan, but the trip nearly ends in disaster and then she’s grounded. (There’s more drama between the two and when the Sadie Goat is on its way back to Genova.)

I’ve never seen a graphic novel, much less a science fiction graphic novel, show how hard it can be for a kid to make sense of the way things work when they’re with each of their separated parents. This reminds me of when I was a kid and went to my dad’s place every other weekend, both the good and the bad of it. (I wish hanging out with him had involved a spacecraft.)

Tags

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.