Cosmo Park

Astrophysicist Finlay (Beetles for Breakfast) makes her graphic novel debut in this frenetic introduction to cosmology. While attending an event at her older sister’s university, brown-skinned youth Kara must hunt down her orange runaway cat Sandro. She chases Sandro into the school’s planetarium, where she meets pale-skinned Professor Rubin, who regales Kara about the solar system. Kara is entranced; Sandro is similarly entranced by the professor’s laser pointer. Pouncing on the device, Sandro unwittingly discovers that the pointer is also a transportation mechanism, which runs out of juice upon the trio’s arrival to the planet Sagbia, a scientific research park. Now they must evade villainous corporate moguls in pursuit of the transporter and safely return home. Finlay utilizes existential questions about gravity, relativity, black holes, and other mysteries of the universe to conjure an interstellar romp of cosmic proportions. Densely packed cartooning rendered in bold, bright color palettes by Dearie depicts scientific concepts with visual humor. Ages 7–11. (June)