The first book in a hilarious middle-grade trilogy sure to captivate kids who dream of a future in outer space, full of alien encounters, zero-gravity dodgeball, and everything in between
SEVENTH GRADE VS THE GALAXY
by Josh Levy
Carolrhoda Books, February 2019
The P.S.S. 118 is just your run-of-the-mill school. Except that it’s a rickety old public school spaceship in orbit around Jupiter. Which gets captured by aliens on the last day of school. And caught in the middle of a galaxy-spanning war. As thirteen-year-old Jack Graham puts it, “You know, usual summer vacation stuff.”
During the end-of-the-year assembly, the school is mysteriously attacked. Amidst the chaos, Jack receives a cryptic message from his father (the school’s recently-fired-for-tinkering-with-the-ship science teacher) and reluctantly follows it down to the engine room with his best friend, Ari, and his non-friend, Becka. There, Jack discovers that his dad has built humanity’s first light-speed engine—and given Jack voice control. To try and save the ship, Jack catapults the school hundreds of light-years away and right into the clutches of the first aliens humans have ever seen. School hasn’t just gotten out—it’s gone clear across the galaxy.
Over the course of the trilogy (with each seventh-grader serving as the hero of their own book), Jack, Ari, and Becka will have to use their wits, brains, and (yes) brawn to dodge lasers, evil bureaucrats, and insubordinate robots as they whiz across the universe. They’ll quite literally have the fate of the entire human race on their awkward, adolescent shoulders. The trio has a lot to learn, namely that the galaxy is a pretty weird place—and that there are way worse things in the universe than going to school.
Joshua Levy is a former middle-school teacher and current lawyer. Josh lives near New York City with his wife and daughter, who he’s sure will get sorted into Gryffindor when the time comes. SEVENTH GRADE VS. THE GALAXY is his debut novel.
