Hello, Nebulon! (Galaxy Zack Series #1)

by Ray O'Ryan, Colin Jack (Illustrator)

Overview

Get to know Galaxy Zack—and his new home planet!—in this start to an out-of-this-world illustrated chapter book series.

In Hello, Nebulon!, Zack makes the big move from Earth. He is already nervous about starting school and making new friends, but it only gets worse when he dreams that his classmates are slimy aliens with tentacles, pizza comes covered in gross bugs, and he can never communicate with his Earth friends again! Fortunately, when Zack arrives at Sprockets Academy for his first day of school, he meets and befriends Drake Tucker, a Nebulite boy who also loves to explore and learn about the planets. Nebulon isn’t as awful as Zack’s dream, but there are a lot of differences between Nebulon and Earth, and they make Zack miss his home in Dubbsville, Texas, even more. But things start to look up when he receives a mysterious surprise. What could it possibly be?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Galaxy Zack chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442453869
Publisher:	Little Simon
Publication date:	04/02/2013
Series:	Galaxy Zack Series , #1
Pages:	115
Sales rank:	403,937
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ray O’Ryan has loved space stories ever since he watched the very first episode of Star Trek. He loves to imagine what traveling across the galaxy might be like and is a bit jealous of Galaxy Zack in this regard.

Colin Jack is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and has illustrated several children’s books. He currently works at DreamWorks Animation as a story artist and character designer and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two sons.

Read an Excerpt

Hello, Nebulon!

Editorial Reviews

In the lively first title in the Galaxy Zack series, set in 2120, Zack is unhappy about moving from Earth to Nebulon for his father’s job. Soaring to their new planet in the family space cruiser, the eight-year-old thinks about how much he’ll miss his best friend, and has nightmares that his new classmates are monstrous aliens and that Nebulite pizza is topped with worms and “extra-moldy cheese.” Yet he’s impressed—as will be readers—by the planet’s gadgetry: cars and bikes zip through the air, and a sideways-moving elevator transports the family through their house. An invisible, talking computer tends to their every need, and Jack’s bed drops from a ceiling panel, as does food that lands on the family’s floating dinner table. Illustrator Jack’s (Toads on Toast) Jetsons-meets-Johnny Neutron illustrations, which appear on every page, energize the story and make its fun, futuristic details all the easier to envision, while O’Ryan’s trim sentences and brisk dialogue are well targeted at beginning readers. A second book, Journey to Juno, is available simultaneously, and four additional titles will arrive later in the year. Ages 5–7. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Moving is always hard, especially if you are 8 years old and your new home is a new planet. The year is 2120, and Zack Nelson and his twin sisters, Cathy and Charlotte, are moving to Nebulon. Zack will especially miss his dog Luna and friend Bert. Zack's vivid fear of the future is explored in a dream sequence in which he imagines his new classmates to be monsters who eat bug-covered pizzas. The reality is quite different, and Zack ends up making a new friend on the first day. Worldbuilding is critical at the beginning of a series, and this world is close enough to Earth for new readers to identify with but alien enough to keep their attention. The cars are actually like tiny spaceships, and the houses are shiny white with rounded edges. Best of all is Ira, short for Indoor Robotic Assistant. Ira makes meals, provides wake-up music, adjusts the shower temperature and makes living on Nebulon pleasant for nervous Zack. More Jetsons than Star Trek, this light tale for new readers is illustrated in a cartoon style that allows readers to feel Zack's pain but happily anticipate the strange new world ahead of him. Zack feels like a new best friend, even if he lives light years away. (Science fiction. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews