Beep and Bop: Too much space! by Jonathan Roth

Bob did not want to go to school in space, but here he is, with an alien/robot friend called Beep no less! Space is not fun. Space is big and scary and dark! And his teachers are absolutely nuts (my assessment).

Bob has to deal with bullies, nutty teachers who take him and his classmates on field trips to deadly planets and black holes, and worst of all, huge spiders! Will he ever make a friend besides Beep? (who totally doesn't get how crazy and dangerous this all is!) and if he does make a friend, will he have to *gulp* like her spiders too?

Goofy black and white cartoons decorate the story, showing the hapless Bob, relentlessly cheerful Beep and a handful of their kooky classmates.

Some space facts are included at the end, as well as a sneak peek at the next book in the series.

As an adult, I was both skeptical and mildly annoyed at the insanely dangerous things the adults do with the kids - cheerfully telling them there will be a test later, if they survive! But kids will love the goofy humor of this, especially if they're into science fiction. There are very, very few science fiction stories for this age group and it's nice to see a more realistic diversity in the kids shown - Bob has tanned skin on the cover and stylistic curls, Lani has dark hair and shaded skin that looks as though it might be darker. The bully and all adults shown are white.

Verdict: Hand this to fans of Space Taxi and Alien Agent, but unless you have really rabid space fans I wouldn't say this was a necessary purchase.

ISBN: 9781481488532; Published 2018 by Aladdin/Simon and Schuster; Borrowed from another library in my consortium