5 Stars, Book Reviews, Historical, Middle Grade

Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos

5 stars (This was amazing!)

Planet Earth Is Blue cover (link to Goodreads)

I’d seen this book in lots of “Best of” lists and had it on my wish list in my library app already when a friend of mine, Heather Clark, was chosen to be Nicole’s Pitch Wars mentor. Pitch Wars is a contest on Twitter where aspiring authors submit their books to mentors–usually other published or agented authors. The mentors may get dozens or even hundreds of submissions, and they pick one person to work with for two months to help them get their book as close to perfect as possible.

I’ve read Heather’s book, Lemon Drop Falls, and it’s amazing. I was not surprised it was picked. But when I found out Nicole was her mentor, I knew I had to bump Planet Earth Is Blue to the top of my to-read pile. I’m SO glad I did. This book is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. The main character is utterly unique. She’s almost nonverbal, for one. She’s severely autistic. But her thoughts are beautiful and utterly engaging.

Nova is obsessed with space and knows lots about it, and there are sciency facts dropped throughout, which was fun. She’s looking forward to watching the Challenger launch with her sister, who has promised she’ll be back by then.

The book is funny, heartwarming, sad, hopeful, eye-opening, and overall magical. I’d compare it to books like Wonder and Out of My Mind, but it’s better than either (even though I also rated Wonder 5 stars), so I can’t compare them. My 11 year old son is reading it and enjoying it too.

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