Jillian Vs. Parasite Planet

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

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Physical Properties

Description

Age range 9+

Can an anxious eleven-year-old find her chill and save her family from creepy aliens Only if she's the most awesome, super-brave astronaut since Spaceman Spiff! So take a deep breath, grab your sidekick, and blast off with Jillian to Parasite Planet.

Eleven-year-old Jillian hates surprises. Even fun ones make her feel all panicky inside. But, she's always dreamed of joining her space-explorer parents on a mission. It's Take Your Kid to Work Day, and Jillian finally has her chance to visit an alien world!

The journey to Planet 80 UMa c is supposed to be just a fun camping trip. But then the local wildlife starts acting really dangerous. Only the onboard computer SABRINA sorta knows what's happening-at least when it's not goofing off or telling bad jokes.

Looks like it's Jillian vs Parasite Planet-and Jillian is determined to win!

Reviews

Book Riot Best Middle Grade Science Fiction Books
2022 Core Excellence in Children's and YA Science Fiction Notable List

"The Martian for kids--a fun yet surprisingly gritty story of resourcefulness and survival in the wilds of outer space."
--Sophia McDougall, author of Mars Evacuees

"On Take Your Kid to Work Day, Jillian feels like the luckiest kid in the class--because her parents go to space for their jobs. Of course, at 11, she's too young to go with them, but she's determined to get as close as she possibly can to "all that sweet, sweet space magic." Her parents lead her on a tour of the StellaTech facility (state of the art for the year 2113), even introducing her to SABRINA, a "Semi-Autonomous Bio-Reconnoitering Intelligent Nanobot Array," who's got wit beyond its programming. Jillian's eagerness for adventure, hunger for information, and utterly relatable anxiety make her an instant classic middle-grade protagonist. It's the best surprise of her life when her parents take her through the StellaTech portal to an alien planet--and the worst when they crash-land, green worms dissolve most of their supplies, and her parents barely survive. Until their portal back to Earth opens, Jillian has to keep them all alive. Good thing she's got SABRINA's quippy help . . . Problem-solving has never been such a wild ride."
--Kirkus

"With fantastic worldbuilding, a hero you can't help but root for, and the best sidekick this side of the galaxy, this engaging, inventive tale of survival will leave readers turning pages."
--Katie Slivensky, author of The Countdown Conspiracy

"A fast-paced story of survival--in the face of alien worms and your own anxieties--with a hero kids will relate to and a robot sidekick they'll wish they could take to school!"
--Gareth Wronski, author of Holly Farb and the Princess of the Galaxy

"Action, science, and creepy crawly creatures. This is everything I ever wanted in an all-ages space adventure."
--Landry Walker, author of Star Wars Adventures

"Around every space boulder and puddle, Jillian uses her savvy, deduction skills, and intuition to navigate an unfamiliar, hostile environment. Jillian vs. Parasite Planet is a smart science fiction adventure that celebrates its heroine's ingenuity and independence, even in circumstances that are out of this world."
--Foreword

"Jillian vs Parasite Planet is a thrilling middle-grade sci-fi novel, with a plucky and ingenious hero who never gives up, and an A.I. partner we all wish we could have."
--Samantha M Clark, author of The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast

"I like a book that keeps the reader posted on what everybody has to eat. Also, I like a book with worms, (in the story, not in the physical book). Not many books have worms. This one does. It's a romp. It's a space romp. It's a romping story in which food is mentioned, and there are worms, and a neat kid who's realer than some kids you meet in books."
--Daniel Pinkwater, author of Adventures of a Dwergish Girl

"Look out Heinlein, here comes Nicole Kornher-Stace! In her middle grade novel, Jillian vs Parasite Planet, she not only does a Heinlein space explorer, but her young female hero, with hands full of science and parasites, manages to grow up as well. Huzzah! Great space fun with a lot of ick thrown in as well."
--Jane Yolen, author of Owl Moon

"You may be familiar with Kornher-Stace's sci-fi for older audiences, Archivist Wasp and Firebreak. But this middle grade adventure about an anxious girl is a freaking delight too."
--Bookriot

"Freaking delightful."
--Blogendorff

Praise for Nicole Kornher-Stace

"Nicole Kornher-Stace is a genius."
--Tiffany Trent, author of The Unnaturalists

"Fierce, blazing, brilliant."
--Jacqueline West, New York Times-bestselling author of The Books of Elsewhere

"Absorbing, exciting, intellectually fascinating, emotionally true."
--Ideomancer

"Astonishingly original."
--Mike Allen, author of Unseaming

Author Bio

Nicole Kornher-Stace is the author of the Norton Award finalist, Archivist Wasp, and its sequel, Latchkey, which are about a postapocalyptic ghosthunter, the ghost of a near-future supersoldier, and their adventures in the underworld. She has two more books due out in 2021: the sci-fi thriller, Firebreak, and of course, Jillian Vs. Parasite Planet. You can find Nicole on Twitter, where she is probably semicoherently yelling about board games, video games, hiking, aromantic representation, good books she's read recently, or her cat. She lives in New Paltz, New York with her family.