Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci –OPTIONAL

Castellucci, Cecil  Tin Star 224 pgs. Roaring Brook Press, 2014. $16.99 Content: Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG13 (girl on girl kissing)Violence: G.

Tulu is on her way through outer space to help start a new colony when she is waylaid and left for dead at a space station by their leader, Brother Blue. Without money, she is completely on her own, and humans aren't appreciated. With a bit of help from an alien survivor named Heckleck, Tula manages to scrape by. But she wants to do more than just survive, she wants revenge. Things get complicated when some humans finally come to the station.

I was excited to read a sci-fi, not many seem to be coming out for young adult. A big problem for me is that much of Tula’s early time on the space station is skipped over. She goes from a beaten newbie to a tough survivor in a matter of pages, so I lost my connection completely. I felt like I didn’t know the main character at all, therefore didn’t care about the outcome of her story. Another thing I didn’t care for was that the entire story takes place on the space station, which is the main character hates and wants to escape, so I sort of felt claustrophobic the whole read. I think students will be interested in how early space travel might have been like and interested in what earth might do if they were confronted by alien military might.

HS – OPTIONAL  Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.