Zita the Spacegirl: Book 1

Ivy Meyer: This author is super talented and the kids love all of his books. This one is no exception.

United States on Feb 28, 2023

Emma Mauriaud: It's a great book and I am really excited to read the next one. Th e story line is brilliant and I,really recommend that you get it.

United Kingdom on Jun 10, 2021

SA Erasmus: This is an excellent book for reluctant readers. The story is interesting and gripping and I credit this book with helping my 9yo daughter with becoming a bookworm. She now devours books and the bug has finally bitten her!!! Cannot be happier!

United Kingdom on May 01, 2021

Random Reader: Brilliant!

I bought this for my young daughter (a couple of years before she'll be ready to read it - but I didn't want to wait and find it out of print). This book is funny, thrilling and at times moving. A wonderful homily to friendship, perseverance and bravery - with great characters brought to life with the deftest of light touches (minimal heavy-handed exposition throughout). The artwork is simply brilliant and anybody from 8 to 80 should find something in this very well thought-out and executed graphic novel.

One for fans of The Phoenix comic and the 'Amulet' series of graphic novels (although less wordy/aimed at a slightly younger audience than the latter perhaps).

United Kingdom on Aug 08, 2014

Mr. Roy Williams: Well,beyond expectations anyway.I just couldn't imagine the sheer pleasure of reading this Graphic novel.It was brilliant !
As a middle aged man,I found everything absorbing and had to slow down my reading so as not to turn the pages too fast.
Yes,of course I re read it ! To catch all the other good stuff I missed on my eager rush through the first time around.
There is no down side..,apart from having to buy the next book to continue to enjoy Zita and her adventures.
Well,that's not really a down side,more a welcome addition to my book collection.I certainly don't mind.
I have to admit,I bought second hand.Well..,you never know,do you ? Good reviews don't always mean good books.
However,on this occasion,the rave reviews were adequately justified.A brilliant book.I can't see anybody not liking it.
There are some great life observations and wonderful humour.An excellent story brilliantly told with nice illustrations.

United Kingdom on Jun 09, 2014

Brad Hawley: Originally written for the Comic Book and Graphic Novel Review Column at the Fantasy Literature Review Site.

Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

Zita the Spacegirl is one of those perfect YA science fiction stories that you wish had been written years ago so you could have read it as a kid — which means that you’re gonna want to get this book in the hands of a child in your life. Just make sure you get a chance to read it first.

The story begins when Zita and her friend find a strange object that has fallen from space — a square, hand-held device with a big, red button on it. Just imagine what you’d do: Would you press that button? Guess what the young child Zita does? That’s right — she presses the button. Instantly, a door of light opens before her and the arms — tentacles? — of a strange creature reach into our world and grab Zita’s friend. Zita runs away in terror to think about what she’s just seen and what she should do.

As you’d expect, she goes to talk to her parents and spends the rest of the book waiting for her parents to figure out some way to save her friend. She is then reunited with her friend at the end of the comic....

United States on Apr 24, 2014

Carly Strickland: Zita the Spacegirl is about a girl who gets sucked through a portal to another planet.

Hatke gives us a classic hero’s journey in an imaginative, sci-fi setting. Our protagonist, Zita is a compassionate and feisty girl, who meets a bunch of lovable, flawed new companions and scary aliens on her quest to find her friend who was kidnapped by a deep sea helmet with mechanical tentacles.

My favorite things about Zita:

~It’s about a female hero. She’s so realistically a young girl I was not at all surprised to read the Hatke has three daughters. She’s frightened, idealistic, so sweet, and brave. It’s always nice to have female protagonists, but often girls have girl problems (like boys, social problems, family). Instead we get a classic damsel in distress, with the roles reversed, the boy needs rescuing, and the girl gets to be the Hero.
~She rides a giant, sentient mouse.
~None of the characters were perfect. Our group of heroes were broken and flawed, and it made them relateable and compelling. (A broken robot, a gun happy prototype, a con man, and a little girl walk into a bar...)
~The story is self contained. While there is a sequel to Zita,...

United States on Mar 20, 2013

Lee Mendham: Ben Hatke created Zita in the mid-noughties and posted a few short strips on-line, and IIRC there was also a short Zita story in an issue of Flight, but this is her first appearance in a full-length graphic novel.

When Zita's friend Joseph gets abducted through a space warp created by a device they found in a meteorite, Zita has no choice but to follow and try to save him. Finding herself in a world where aliens and robots of all shapes and sizes live side-by-side with humans, Zita must find a way to reach Joseph and rescue him before the planet they're on gets trashed by a giant asteroid.

It helps that most of the inhabitants speak English (either that or the device that created the warp gave her the ability to understand alien languages), so she quickly makes new friends and allies and sets off to find Joseph and free him from the aliens who've captured him.

Zita's first graphic novel is a breezy romp featuring some fun and engaging characters, and a lead character who's not afraid to kick some backside to get what she wants. I'd have no hesitation in recommending it to kids who like science fiction, but I'd suggest they don't let their parents borrow it or...

United Kingdom on Aug 14, 2012

Danielle Baum: Zita has appeared in webcomics and in a couple of the early  Flight novels , but this is her first full length feature all to herself and she takes her readers on a fantastic ride.

We meet Zita and in the beginning she's just an ordinary, if somewhat spontaneous, young girl horsing around with a friend...when they find a crashed asteroid that contains a device with a giant red button. Doing what any kid would do, Zita presses the button and her friend is suddenly pulled through the vortex that has opened. After a moment of doubt Zita jumps in to try to rescue him. Zita is instantly pulled into a strange world, where even stranger creatures abound...and where most people would fear to tread. But Zita needs to rescue her friend and she rises to the occasion with the help of some new found friends and donning her space uniform along the way...and maybe saving a planet as well.

While the story isn't really new, the book is still a delightful ride with some great artwork. The storyline itself, and the way that Zita grows during the book reminds me a lot of Hayao Miyazaki's film  Spirited Away  (which is a good thing.) And just one more selling point, Zita...

United States on Apr 10, 2011