Journey to the Haunted Planet: An Interstellar Adventure with 12 Cosmic Holograms

The creators of A Night in the Dinosaur Graveyard offer more holographic encounters, this time in an outer-space setting. However, in light of Spielbergian adventures and similar extraterrestrial excursions, Wood's simplistic story may strike the target audience as pretty tame stuff. Professor Sponge, eager to try out his homemade rocket, takes his grandchildren Max and Lucy (Lucy's dog, Soap, is a stowaway) for ``a day trip to outer space.'' But when Soap's tail accidentally yanks a control lever, the crew lands on a mysterious planet where they encounter (gasp!) aliens. The holograms, credited to the Templar Company, are the chief attraction; even so, the majority of them, depicting alien ghosts, are repetitious. While the design includes a particularly effective diecut page, the illustrations themselves are merely serviceable. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)