Jillian vs Parasite Planet

This book was fantastic. I don’t read much middle grade books but reading Jillian vs parasite has now made me want to seek it out, it’s that good! Jillian is eleven years old and travels to space with her parents and a robot sidekick called SABRINA. There she is greeted by an alien world. The world building is phenomenal, and the story is completely engaging. I particularly loved how Jillian’s childhood anxiety was portrayed, and felt that it was an important inclusion. I highly recommend this fun read, to children and adults alike.

Everyone needs an AI buddy like SABRINA. It is possibly the coolest, snarkiest, most intuitive, super-intelligent and physically flexible robot ever and Jillian has it for a companion throughout this amazing adventure. Jillian’s space-surveyor parents take her on a survey trip to ANOTHER PLANET for Bring Our Kids to Work Day. What should be the most fun, coolest and best camping trip ever turns into a crazy, worm-infested fight for survival. With her parents out of commission, it’s up to Jillian to save them, keep them alive and meet the return rendezvous-vous one week later. This story is action-packed, the characters are great, the alien planet is carefully developed, and Jillian is such a courageous heroine, despite her struggles with anxiety, you just have to root for her the whole time. Her relationship with SABRINA, their teamwork and blossoming friendship, are the absolute highlights of this book for me. Love it, love it, love it!

This is a rocking Middle Grade adventure story set in SPAAAAAACE! Jillian's parents are astronauts, so 'Take Your Kid to Work' day means she gets to travel with them to perform a routine survey on a routine planet. But when they get there, things go disastrously wrong, and Jillian has to survive and keep her parents alive until the rendezvous date with only her wits and a robot companion. It's exciting, science-focused, and a lot of fun!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this young adult sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . . They claim this book be for ages 8 to 12.  I may be (much) older but that didn't stop me from really enjoying this space romp.  The story follows eleven-year old Jillian who gets to go with her parents on Take Your Kid to Work Day.  But her parents aren't accountants or lawyers.  They are space explorers.  How cool is that?  But when Jillian accompanies her parents on a routine mission everything goes wrong and Jillian must save the day! Good thing that Jillian has SABRINA, an artificial intelligence with a hive mind.  I did love the robot and the developing relationship it had with Jillian.  But what I loved more was how both characters had limitations that had to be thought through and dealt with.  Jillian has anxiety and is . . . well, eleven.  SABRINA's strengths and weaknesses are in it's programming.  They have to use the skills they have to accomplish the mission.  It was lovely to see both their teamwork and their individual growth. I was rooting for Jillian and loved seeing how everything worked out. As an older reader I did have to suspend my disbelief a bit.  However, I am positive that the younger readers will adore this excellent story.  I continue to be a fan of Kornher-Stace's work and will read whatever she does next.  Arrrr! So lastly . . . Thank you Tachyon!

If you are: A parent A grandparent A cool aunt/uncle/etc. A babysitter A teacher/educator A librarian Someone with young siblings An adult with anxiety who's always loved to read and rarely saw themself portrayed accurately in fiction YOU HAVE TO BUY THIS BOOK. Full stop, no question, go get it right now. I have loved to read ever since I was a kid. I vividly remember checking out stacks of 12+ books and assuring the librarian that I would, in fact, read them all. My love of sci-fi started early, too, thanks to my dad, who insisted upon exposing me to things like star wars and so on at a preeeetty early age (to my mom's chagrin). I also have chronic, debilitating anxiety, which I wasn't diagnosed with until I was a teenager but has absolutely lived in my brain for much longer than that. This book, had I had it when I was younger, would have been my favorite thing ever. Heck, I am almost thirty (yikes) and it is STILL one of my favorite things ever, and definitely one of the best books I've read this year. Nicole Kornher-Stace has once again created a story that hits all my buttons (space travel! average MC thrown into a chaotic adventure they have to Do Their Best to get through! Genre-savvy humor! Creepy parasitic infections that [spoiler] don't end up killing everybody!! A sentient array of nanobots!!! I absolutely could go on) and, beyond that, written chronic anxiety in a way I don't think I have EVER seen in fiction (certainly not in kidlit) but that resonates extremely intensely with me. I was (am??) the kid who couldn't shut up. The kid who catastrophized constantly and needed desperately to be understood. Jillian and I present anxiety a little differently, but the feelings are all the same and very there and this representation is so so so so important. This is a riveting, intriguing, wholesome thriller of a book with so very much heart, and I am so happy to have it in my life. I wish I was still in the elementary education field solely for the purpose of recommending this book to every kid and teacher I knew. As it is, I will absolutely be yelling about it to everyone I know with kids in their lives, and every grown-up chronic bookworm I know, too.