This was really lovely! Unfortunately, I'm taking points off for the wedgie jokes. I get how they joke is *supposed* to land, but it manifests itself in kids getting their butts pinched/being touched without consent, and I'm just not here for that.

I loved this book. Full of action, fun ideas, and galactic diversity. The themes of finding out what you're good at, working together, and dealing with enemies are helpful for all kids.

STAR SCOUTS by Mike Lawrence is a colorfully illustrated science fiction graphic novel for children.

When Avani is abducted by an alien, she discovers that she’d rather be part of an intergalactic scouting troop than back on Earth with her fellow humans.

Librarians will find that the combination of an action-packed story and diverse cast of characters will appeal to young people. The second book in this new series is due in Spring 2018.

Published by First Second Books on March 21, 2017. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

At times Star Scouts is an entertaining read full of imagination and a positive message about being different. Other times, it hits you over the head with its characterizations and paced far too slowly. Star Scouts is obviously aimed at younger kids as the message and outcome of the story are very easy to figure out. This wasn’t a deal breaker, but it did make for a bumpy ride to the end.

The gist of Star Scouts is that Avani is new to town and has been forced to join the Flower Scouts. It’s nothing like her old school or scout troop, and so she has a hard time fitting in. Granted, she doesn’t give it much of a chance and could have tried a little harder to make a friend. Eventually, she’s accidentally abducted by an alien. They bond rather quickly, and soon Avani is part of Mabel’s scout troop. Avani meets the rest of the troop and finds out that they’re one of the lowest ranked troops in the Star Scouts. There’s a camp they attend and here’s where the conflict is introduced as Avani upsets another scout and they begin to war. This turns into a competition run by the Scouts to determine who will stay and who will go.

The story itself and the message are nice. The message isn’t hit over your head constantly because it’s too busy using the same jokes over and over. The biggest problem with Avani is her slow character growth. Her character doesn’t grow until the last challenge, and by then it doesn’t make her any better than the girl she’s battling. That was disappointing because the way the challenges were set up and paced it essentially traps Avani’s character growth. She must continue disliking her rival in order to progress the story and ensure some kind of victory at the end. The story works the way it is, but it could have been better in regards to the character development and plot structure. Because of this, it’s more likely that a kid would accept the slow character growth making it geared more towards children.

The artwork is a delight. Mike Lawrence’s artwork is clean, detailed and looks like a Saturday morning cartoon. The character designs are unique and in some cases add to the story. The backgrounds are filled with details which make the images wonderful to look at, but then also the world feels alive as well. That is a great feat to accomplish in any comic, but Star Scouts does it quite well.

It's fairly obvious that this is just the start of a series. It would be fun to read more and see what else can be done with the world. That and there are some secrets that are kept in this volume that has yet to play out in the world. It would be nice to see what happens and for that reason, I would be back for more Star Scouts.

Star Scouts is a welcome twist on the classic “earthling taken to space by mistake” premise. With boys, it’s usually “because they’re a video game champion,” as in The Last Starfighter. This version is more inclusive and practical. Avani doesn’t have any special skills, just curiosity, determination, and her natural intelligence.

Mabel and Avani quickly become friends, which helps when they accidentally develop a rivalry at camp with a troop of methane breathers, leading to a badge competition. While the topics include robotics, teleportation, and jetpack flying, the real lesson is how to be a good winner or loser and how to get along with a variety of fellow scouts.

Teamwork and cooperation are hard-won, with the troops seeing how badly they’ll be humiliated without working together. A lot happens in this book, making it a rewarding, substantial read, and Mike Lawrence does a great job weaving all the plot strands together.

Lawrence’s characters, all vaguely humanoid, vary in shape, color, size, and personality. He’s built an imaginative, wide-ranging but comfortable galaxy with plenty of humor. (The robot named GOOSE whose only function is to pinch people’s butts will be a favorite of young readers.) Avani is clearly of color, and her family speaks Hindi, but her ethnicity isn’t explicitly foregrounded. This is a story where the lead just happens to be Indian instead of the default white.

This is Lawrence’s first solo graphic novel, after illustrating for other writers, and his plotting and characterization are outstanding. There’s a sequel, League of Lasers, due out next spring. As a series, Star Scouts has plenty to recommend it.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Scott

Star Scouts by Mike Lawrence is a heart-warming tale of an intergalactic misfit scouting group at the Star Scout Andromeda Camp, where competition and humanism play out. A universe in which the badges you can get are in teleportation, lasers, robotics and more (of course, `xenoscatology is a badge!) and the graphic novel captures the feel of a ‘scouts group’ to a tee. I was instantly reminded of scouting Jamborees and badge earning from my youth.

Avani, a young Indian girl who has trouble making friends at her new school, and has reluctantly joined the ‘Flower Scouts,’ accidently gets teleported onto a Star Scout Alien ship. Using the Star Trek ‘Universal Translator’ trope, she forms a bond with the young alien scouts and proceeds to join them as Earth’s first representative in the Star Scouts. With a few instances of mishaps, They are off to the Camp, where methane breathers and O2’s (Oxygen breathers) have a bit of a rivalry. When Avani accidently calls one a “toot breather,” completely by accident, it quickly escalates, first into rather humorous practical jokes, then almost into a fight that is interrupted by the heads of the camp: their solution, whoever gets the best of seven badges gets to stay a Scout and the other must leave. Avani’s stakes are a little higher as she represents whether Earth becomes a recruitment grounds for new scouts. Her rival, faces humiliation – wild antics occur, and Earth’s future hangs in the balance.

The story is linear but entertaining. Aimed at ‘Scout ages’ that youngster to “tweenie’ demographic, the story and its humor are apt. Never wavering (or missing the opportunity to make a joke) Lawrence gracefully pulls the reader through the tale, giving multi-culturalism, mythology, science and moral ethics a good covering (alienation is a de facto standard in multi-species sci-fi). The word choice is apt and a little of the Hindi language is thrown in for good measure (and added realism). The story plays out in a manner in which adults see the future, whilst the young sees the present. In all of the badge events, I could pull myself away as an adult and foresee the endings, however, in the back of my mind (and often on the forefront) there was this inner child that wanted to keep turning the pages.

The artwork in Star Scouts is commendable and well executed. The various aliens and Avani are drawn in a tight, yet loose style. Let me explain: the lines are crisp and clear, perspective is maintained, a uniform style is established and nothing looks out of place – in this sense the drawing is tight; it is loose in the sense that everything is constantly in a state of motion, pushing the reader from panel to panel in an inconspicuous manner – in this sense it’s loose. All in all the artwork was cartoonish, but sustained the sense of disbelief until you finished the story. Mike Lawrence did a phenomenal job in the artwork for this zany piece.

Inevitably, I would recommend this book to Scouts (of any type, even ‘Flower Scouts),’ and young readers who are finding a transitionary displacement hard. Star Scouts is about inspiration to aspire and overcome cultural and species differences, and gives hope in cooperation and compassion. The ending is not forced, it flows naturally from the story, and this graphic novel deserved a space on any young person’s shelf.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

Once you look beyond the surface, this is pretty standard middle grade fare. Being the new kid, coping with bullies, trying to find your strengths; these are all common topics for this age group. Setting the bulk of the plot in outer space is novel and lends a sort of universality to the plot. Avani is a solid character and her new troop is charming. The illustrations are appealing. The panels are detailed and complex without becoming busy.

Star Scouts is a children's graphic novel by Mike Lawrence, and is currently scheduled for release on March 21 2017. Avani is the new kid in town, and she’s not happy about it. Everyone in school thinks she’s weird, especially the girls in her Flower Scouts troop. Is it so weird to think scouting should be about fun and adventure, not about makeovers and boys, boys, boys? But everything changes when Avani is “accidentally” abducted by a spunky alien named Mabel. Mabel is a scout too, a Star Scout. Collecting alien specimens (like Avani) goes with the territory, along with teleportation and jetpack racing. Avani might be weird, but in the Star Scouts she fits right in. If she can just survive Camp Andromeda, and keep her dad from discovering that she’s left planet Earth, she’s in for the adventure of a lifetime.

Star Scouts is a wonderful graphic novel about a young girl named Avani. She is not into boys and the popular music, she is different and stuck in the rut of wallowing in her unhappiness, so much so that she does not notice other peoples unhappiness. Then she meets Mabel and her group of Star Scouts she finds a great group of friends, and a fellow outsider in Mabel. They face challenges, including the classic battle with a bully in a fresh form, and find out a lot about themselves and friendship on the way. I think readers of all ages can empathize with Avani and Mabel, with the way they feel left out or not good enough. Even adults still face these feelings, and seeing others going through it in books and movies helps us all feel a little less odd. I also enjoyed the artwork very much. I think readers that will identify with the characters, and even those that feel more confident and comfortable in their own skin, can get a lot out of that part of the story. Oh, the adventure and danger portions of the story was awesome to, but I just identified so much with the emotional aspect that it is what stayed with me the longest. It was bright and colorful, and very detailed.

Star Scouts is a well drawn comic about adventure, finding yourself, and friendship. I really enjoyed the book and think that it will hit the sweet spot with many readers.

Avani Patel is not feeling this new scouts Flower Scouts troop her parents signed her up for. She's the new kid, her parents figured it would be a new way to make friends, but the Flower Scouts are so lame. All they talk about are boys and makeovers; it's totally out of line with her interests, like rodeos and adventure. Things change for the better when Avani is accidentally picked up by an alien named Mabel, who happens to be a scout - a Star Scout - working on one of her badges. The two girls hit it off, and Avani finds herself an unofficial Star Scout! She's zooming around on a jetpack, working on teleportation, and avoiding the xenoscatology lab; she's made some out of this world friends, and she's happy. When Star Scouts announce their yearly camping trip, Avani manages to fib her father into signing off on the trip - she's going away to camp, she doesn't need to mention that it's not exactly on the planet, right? But shortly after arriving at Camp Andromeda, Avani finds herself on the wrong side of a rival group of aliens; Avani, Mabel and their friends are in for a heck of a week, if they can work together to get through it.

Star Scouts is a fun outer-space adventure for middle graders. It's scouting with a little more adventure added in, and lots of hilarious bathroom humor (look, I raised three boys, I find poop and fart jokes funny) to keep readers cracking up. There are positive messages about friendship and working together that parents and caregivers will appreciate, and the two main characters are spunky girls that aren't afraid to take on an adventure.

If you want to go the sci-fi way with displays and booktalks, you have to pair this with Zita the Spacegirl and Cleopatra in Space. You can revisit this book when you're getting ready for Summer Reading by booktalking this with camp books like Camp Midnight, Beth Vrabel's Camp Dork, and Nancy Cavanaugh's Just Like Me.

Check out more of Mike Cavanaugh's illustration at his website.