I’m over the moon about this stellar middle-grade graphic novel starring a girl with two moms!
As a former astronomy major and ongoing science fiction fan, I was very excited to read Grace Needs Space!, by Benjamin A. Wilgus and illustrated by Rii Abrego (Random House)—but would it live up to my expectations? Yes!
Twelve-year-old Grace lives with her mother Evelyn, whom she calls “Mom,” the chief engineer on Genova Station. She’s tired of life with her boring mother aboard the boring station, though, and eager for her planned vacation with her fun freighter captain mother Kendra, whom she calls “Baba” or “Ba.” Her moms are presumably separated or divorced; this is never stated (although their erstwhile marriage is mentioned), but the lack of physical contact between them beyond a handshake implies their relationship is no longer romantic and they aren’t only separated by Kendra’s job.
Kendra is headed for Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, and Grace is excited about her first trip to a planetary body. But when things go awry with Kendra’s shipments and schedules, she’s suddenly too busy for Grace. Grace is also frustrated that her ba is still treating her as if she is a little kid. Feeling disconnected from both her parents, Grace heads off on her own, engages with some local kids, and gets in minor trouble that leads to a reprimand from her ba. Her dreamed-for vacation is turning out to be less than she expected.
On their way home, the old freighter needs emergency repairs. Despite Kendra’s protestations that she has everything under control, engineering mom Evelyn must come to help them out. The whole family works together to solve the problem, showing that despite the parents’ separation, they both still care about each other (though not romantically) and about Grace. We also see why they may have separated; Kendra, despite her hard work (on which she is perhaps too focused), has trouble organizing her time, which frustrates Evelyn. Neither mother is portrayed badly, though, just humanly, and that is one of the strengths of this book. We see a child navigating life with each of her separated parents while loving them (and being occasionally annoyed with them) both.
As a parent, too, I appreciated how author Benjamin A. Wilgus depicts the dynamics of parenting. Work-life balance can be tough. And sometimes, in a child’s eyes, the parent doing the bulk of day-to-day child rearing is seen as the less fun one, whereas the other parent is seen as more exciting—but that can change if the parents have to switch roles. All parents have their flaws and foibles, the book implies, but each also has much to give.
The book also weaves in tidbits of information about the planets, spaceflight, and life in space via things that Grace reads or hears, and via explanations from Kendra about their ship. Equal credit goes to illustrator Rii Abrego. She deftly captures many of the details of spacer life, such as a corridor that curves upward as one walks around the outer rim of a space station torus, snacks that float in low gravity, or the feeling of acceleration in a ship under engine burn. While this all feels like appropriate worldbuilding and will likely delight STEM-leaning readers, none of it is necessary to understand the story. Despite the vividly portrayed futuristic setting, this is a book about a family, not about space per se. Its strength is in depicting the relationships among the characters and in conveying, through both words and images, emotions that many children, especially those with divorced/separated parents, will understand. (Children who simply spend a lot more time with one parent than the other, for reasons of business travel or otherwise, may find much here that resonates as well.)
Kendra is at one point addressed by the honorific “Mx.,” although it’s unclear whether this is a personal choice or a gender-neutral usage for anyone whose gender is unknown by the person addressing them. Elsewhere, she is referred to with she/her pronouns. She is White, while Grace and Evelyn have medium-brown skin and dark brown hair. Evelyn is also a large-bodied person, a nice bit of representation.
This is simply a joy of a book, with words and pictures that work in wonderful harmony to give us a captivating setting, relatable characters, and a thoughtful depiction of family. The fact that it is a two-mother family is also completely incidental; apparently, humanity has progressed in the future. It’s also a rare book for the age group that shows divorced/separated LGBTQ parents who are divorced/separated from each other (and not from previous heterosexual relationships), and offers a model for both kids and their parents of how to remain a family even in this new orbital configuration. It deserves a wide audience and should find many fans.