Staff Review: "The Lost Planet" by Rachel Searles

Guess what! There's a for-real, honest-to-goodness middle grade science fiction novel out right now! I know it's hard to believe, since they tend to be so few and far between, but Rachel Searles' "The Lost Planet" has so many aliens, space-jumping chases, and  that there's no way you could call it anything else.

An injured boy mysteriously appears inside a secure compound, and no one knows how he got there—not even the boy himself. After removing an ID chip from the back of his neck, he learns that his name is Chase, but nothing else. Locked inside the compound with Parker-- an orphan guarded by an advanced android-- Chase has no way to figure out who he is. So when Parker suggests escaping for a day, he goes along with it. As they are hanging out on the planet’s moon, they witness the destruction of Parker’s planet and barely escape. In the panic after the explosion, the boys pick up a person from a wrecked spaceship, the they become embroiled in an intergalactic run for their lives.

Each character has secrets to hide and discover in this twisty-turning tale of self-discovery and survival.  "Star Wars" fans and lovers of adventure and science fiction will be salivating for the next installment at the end of this exciting book. The book is appropriate for grades 4-7.

--Andrea W., Headquarters