Ana and the Cosmic Race #1 (Ana and the Cosmic Race)

by Amy Chu

Ana is in the race of her life! The grand prize is Dr. Laslo's space
empire. But are her fellow racers trying to beat her or help her win?Mysterious
media mogul megaquadrillionaire Dr. Laslo issues a challenge to the best and
brightest students in the Scholastic Federation to a cosmic scavenger hunt. The
grand prize – his vast empire. But the clues are hidden across time and
space, and only the best and brightest will be able to find
them.

Thirteen year old super studious Ana, on a scholarship at Dalton
Phillips Prep, is determined to win, for herself and her struggling family back
at home. She teams up with the school’s 2nd best student, the eccentric
alien shapeshifter, Zyxyx. But the stakes heat up when the competitors from
their rival schools enter the race—handsome Keio and the enigmatic Ekene.
Their behavior is confusing—are they competing against her or trying to
help? And why? Suddenly the competition becomes a lot more
complicated...

• ISBN10: 1629917656
• ISBN13: 9781629917658
• Publish Date: 19 September 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 5 June 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Papercutz
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 96
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Ana and the Cosmic Race is a shojo comic (school romance aimed at female tween readers) from Papercutz under the Charmz imprint.

I really loved a lot of things about this comic. There's a romance element, true, but the first volume is full of strong female characters. There's also a cute slightly madcap sidekick (a shapechanging alien with 4 arms who's Ana's dorm roommate called Zyx), a mysterious gazillionaire (and in Willy Wonka style, he's giving his empire to the winner of the cosmic race), and a space academy full of supporting characters including Ana's potential love interests Keio Meida and Ekene Botha (see cover).

The art is charming and naive (in a good way), the action and plotting are fast paced. Yes, it's ridiculous and somewhat sappy, but it is shojo and my test audience (my daughter who is only slightly older than the target audience) absolutely loved it.

The creators also managed to sneak in some information/history along with the entertaining storyline.
Thoroughly enjoyable!

Four stars


Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.