Bibliographic Information: 

Crilley, Mark,  Akiko on the Planet Smoo (Yearling, 2001)

Brief summary: 

 

 

Originally published as a comic, this is the first of a series of chapter books following the adventures of Akiko and her cohorts on intergalactic missions.  Akiko is a Japanese-American fourth grader living in a boring midwestern town with little sense of her own strengths.  Mistaking her for a hero from another galaxy, the King of planet Smoo brings her to his planet to lead a mission to rescue his kidnapped son.  Her motley crew includes a fearless one-legged mechanic named Spuckler Bogue, Spuckler's homemade (and somewhat rickety) robot Gax, a multilingual scholar (Mr. Beeba), and a wise but mysterious bodyless creature known as Poog.  They have many mishaps, but Akiko's courage and resourcefulness become apparent as the group learns to work together.  This adventure is continued over the course of several more books (Akiko in the Sprubly Islands, Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd, and Akiko in the Castle of Alia Rellapor) and other books in the series outline further adventures as Akiko grows older.

Comments:

This book is wonderful to read aloud, as each character has a distinctive voice.  While there are serious antagonists in this series, including robots with great destructive powers, the violence is minimal and there are no serious injuries.  In general, the books have a comic-book quality, including many silly made-up words and fantastical creatures. 

Grade/Age level:

While the book is officially marketed to 9-12 year olds, who are close to Akiko's age, I think that they are rather short and simple for that set.  My son enjoyed them as read-alouds at 5 and 6 and looks forward to reading them when he is a stronger independent reader.  I think they are ideal for 2nd-3rd graders.

Cautions:

 If your children don't like suspense, I'd avoid these. 

--Elizabeth Hutchinson