Nuts in Space

K-Gr 3—From the author of Weasels (Candlewick, 2014) comes another fantastically wacky tale of space travel, hunger, betrayal, and…nuts? A motley crew of space-faring animals clad in Trekkie uniforms return from their mission of retrieving the Lost Nuts of Legend, only to realize that they are out of provisions and that Beaver, the engineer, ate their map. Their quest for directions results in a wild odyssey, culminating in an encounter with the dreaded Death Banana, crewed by storm trooper monkeys who try to steal the coveted nuts. Upon escaping and following large arrows that read, "Home, this way," the crew discovers that Beaver ate the nuts, and they must turn the starship around and head back into space. Illustrated mostly on full-bleed oversize spreads, Dolan's cartoonish drawings overflow with myriad visual jokes and speech balloons that perfectly complement the tongue-in-cheek narrative.