Sanity & Tallulah

Title: Sanity & Tallulah 
Author: Molly Brooks 
Illustrator: Molly Brooks 
Publisher: Disney Hyperion 
Publication Date: October 16th, 2018
Genre/Format: Adventure/Graphic Novel 
GoodReads Summary: Sanity Jones and Tallulah Vega are best friends on Wilnick, the dilapidated space station they call home at the end of the galaxy. So naturally, when gifted scientist Sanity uses her lab skills and energy allowance to create a definitely-illegal-but-impossibly-cute three-headed kitten, she has to show Tallulah. But Princess, Sparkle, Destroyer of Worlds is a bit of a handful, and it isn't long before the kitten escapes to wreak havoc on the space station. The girls will have to turn Wilnick upside down to find her, but not before causing the whole place to evacuate! Can they save their home before it's too late?

Readers will be over the moon for this rollicking space adventure by debut author Molly Brooks. 
What I Think: YES! This book is so much fun. I had the opportunity to meet and moderate a panel with Molly Brooks last weekend at NCTE (check out some resources we shared here). Our session focused on strong female protagonists and it was cool to hear Molly talk about how she specifically wanted to create a space adventure with girl protagonists. Sanity and Tallulah remind me a bit of Bink and Gollie. They are so much, different, but still good friends to each other. 
     One of the hardest things for me as a writer is figuring out plot and what happens in a story. I'm constantly looking for mentor texts that help me think about how a story unravels and how the arc takes shape. It's important to consider what is happening in each scene and how the action moves the story forward. Sanity & Tallulah offers a great example of how action drives the story forwrd. Sometimes it takes a book like this with such a stark example to start to really think about a craft move like plot. Talking about this is especially important with writers in fourth grade and up. They have a lot to say but sometimes their stories lack arc and helping them see how action drives the story forward is important....hard but important.