Mysterious Galaxy is happy to be hosting Cecil Castellucci and Sally Pla for their new releases, Don’t Cosplay with My Heart and Stanley Will Probably Be Fine! We will be transforming the store into a mini comics & cosplay celebration for the evening. Cosplay, costumes, and general geekery strongly encouraged!
In Don’t Cosplay with My Heart, Edan Kupferman loves escaping into cosplay as her favorite character, Gargantua – especially when her real life is a mess. When a boy at school gets her into her element at ComicCon, she begins to learn how to be her own hero.
Cecil has written several young adult books and graphic novels, including The Plain Janes, Soupy Leaves Home, and Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure. In addition to writing, she is the Children’s Correspondence Coordinator for The Rumpus and the founding YA Editor at the LA Review of Books. She currently resides in Los Angeles.
In Stanley Will Probably Be Fine, a young boy escapes into comics when he gets overwhelmed by the world around him. He invents his own superhero, John Lockdown, and with his help tackles a scavenger hunt through downtown San Diego to overcome his fears. School Library Journal praises it as “an excellent addition to promote social-emotional learning.”
Sally’s previous work includes The Someday Birds and Benji, The Bad Day, and Me. She is a prolific traveler and an advocate for neurodiversity. She currently lives in Southern California with her family and giant goldendoodle pup.
Cosplaying teen Edan Kupferman has an easier time expressing her anger at chaotic and troubling circumstances in her life when wearing the mask of super-powered Gargantua. An insightful look into what so many of us love about comics – and some of the challenges we have to face in the field.
— Maryelizabeth
This funny and moving second novel from the author of The Someday Birds features comic trivia, a safety superhero, and a super-cool scavenger hunt all over downtown San Diego, as our young hero Stanley Fortinbras grapples with his anxiety--and learns what, exactly, it means to be brave.
Nobody knows comics trivia like Stanley knows comics trivia.
It's what he takes comfort in when the world around him gets to be too much. And after he faints during a safety assembly, Stanley takes his love of comics up a level by inventing his own imaginary superhero, named John Lockdown, to help him through.
Help is what he needs, because Stanley's entered Trivia Quest--a giant comics-trivia treasure hunt--to prove he can tackle his worries, score VIP passes to Comic Fest, and win back his ex-best friend. Partnered with his fearless new neighbor Liberty, Stanley faces his most epic, overwhelming, challenging day ever.
What would John Lockdown do?
Stanley's about to find out.
On their way to start a new life, Tula and her family travel on the Prairie Rose, a colony ship headed to a planet in the outer reaches of the galaxy. All is going well until the ship makes a stop at a remote space station, the Yertina Feray, and the colonist's leader, Brother Blue, beats Tula within an inch of her life. An alien, Heckleck, saves her and teaches her the ways of life on the space station.
When three humans crash land onto the station, Tula's desire for escape becomes irresistible, and her desire for companionship becomes unavoidable. But just as Tula begins to concoct a plan to get off the space station and kill Brother Blue, everything goes awry, and suddenly romance is the farthest thing from her mind.
Brother Blue.
His name, even the color, filled me with a furious fire of pure hatred.Years ago, Tula Bane was beaten and left for dead on a remote space station far from Earth, her home planet. She started with nothing and had no one, but over time, she found a home, a family, and even love. When it's discovered that the abandoned planet beneath the station is abundant with a rare and valuable resource, aliens from across the galaxy race over to strike it rich. With them comes trouble, like the man who nearly killed Tula years ago--the man she has dreamed of destroying ever since.
In this sequel to Tin Star, Cecil Castellucci takes readers on an extraordinary adventure through space in a thrilling and thoughtful exploration of what it means to love, to hate, and to be human.
Two starred reviews One of the New York Public Library's Best Kids Books of 2017
"Offering a mixture of suspense, mystery, tragedy and humor, Pla's story captures both the literal and figurative meanings of journey." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Pla gives us a memorable hero in this lyrical and funny book." --Shelf Awareness (starred review)
The Someday Birds is a debut middle grade novel perfect for fans of Counting by 7s and Fish in a Tree, filled with humor, heart, and chicken nuggets.
Charlie's perfectly ordinary life has been unraveling ever since his war journalist father was injured in Afghanistan.
When his father heads from California to Virginia for medical treatment, Charlie reluctantly travels cross-country with his boy-crazy sister, unruly brothers, and a mysterious new family friend. He decides that if he can spot all the birds that he and his father were hoping to see someday along the way, then everything might just turn out okay.
Debut author Sally J. Pla has written a tale that is equal parts madcap road trip, coming-of-age story for an autistic boy who feels he doesn't understand the world, and an uplifting portrait of a family overcoming a crisis.
