Sold in a rapid US pre-empt, Chris Harding’s graphic novel debut follows a kid who hacks her school’s chatbot to explore the secrets of popularity. Perfect for readers who love Real Friends or The Witches of Brooklyn.

GALAXY BRAIN
by Chris Harding
Balzer + Bray/Macmillan, Spring 2027
(via Writers House)

Cover not final

13-year-old Polly is a clever inventor and a proud nerd—her sister calls her “Galaxy Brain,” and she even built her own robot, Box, which got her into a prestigious school with a strong science and tech focus. So when her best friend Henna becomes popular and leaves Polly behind, Polly uses her skills to hack the school’s AI chatbot to study the popular kids and figure out how to fix things.

Instead of the happy ending Polly was picturing, it’s a complete disaster. Her artificial rise through Dorsey’s social stratosphere reconnects her with Henna, but the cool kids all talk, dress and think differently. (How do they not get that spiders are cute??)

Meanwhile, her nerd friends are wary of this new Polly, her family is bemused, and she may have accidentally created an AI monster. It turns out brilliant tech can’t solve all of life’s problems, and Polly will discover that fitting in doesn’t necessarily equal true friendship, and that the best way to optimize popularity is just by being yourself.

Chris Harding is a writer and illustrator who most recently worked on Netflix’s Emmy-award winning series StoryBots: Answer Time, and whose past jobs include creator of a nationally syndicated comic strip and making art for Hallmark cards. GALAXY BRAIN is his debut novel.