Scieszka joins creative forces with Weinberg to craft a zany new sf series with serious underpinnings. This first adventure is narrated by the planet Earth, who is quickly becoming uninhabitable for humans due to global warming (thanks to humans). The time has come to find a new home for this pesky species, so four genetically modified AstroNuts are blasted into space to inspect the Plant Planet. Illustration- and stat-filled spreads introduce the team. AlphaWolf is the mission leader, SmartHawk is a planning whiz, super-friendly LaserShark is in charge of (vegetarian) snacks, and StinkBug is the mission pilot and tech officer. As the AstroNuts explore the lush planet, it quickly evolves from promising to hostile. This book is packed with absurdity, misadventure, and science, and it unabashedly demonstrates how environments destabilize when dominated by a single species. Weinberg’s collage illustrations are particularly noteworthy for their use of digitized engravings from the Rijksmuseum, incorporating a mini-lesson on Creative Commons. Scieszka’s knack for writing with wit and kid appeal guarantees that this will be a popular choice.

Here is a wacky tale, heavy with glossy pages of vibrant graphics, that will appeal to “Captain Underpants” and “Geronimo Stilton” devotees. Overrun with pollution, Earth’s atmosphere reaches uninhabitable levels, forcing NNASA (Not the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to deploy four mutated animal astronauts (misspelled in transmission as “AstroNuts”). The animals were superpowered with scientific talents to find an ideal planet for relocating humanity. AlphaWolf is the boss, deployed to find intelligent life; SmartHawk is tasked with inspecting the new planets’ climates and ecosystems; LaserShark must search for delicious food; and StinkBug seeks shelter. Readers will cheer for these (mostly) heroic and aptly named nuts as they haphazardly explore a seemingly perfect plant planet.VERDICT This first in a new sci-fi series checks key boxes: it is funny, full of nonstop action, and jammed with plenty of science factoids.