The Only Astronaut

Blast off with Avni as she goes in search of a space station assistant in The Only Astronaut by Mahak Jain and Andrea Stegmaier.

Avni is the only astronaut at her space station. She gets to go on cool missions whenever she wants. She quickly realizes that being the only astronaut is a lot of work and she could use an assistant. A search ensues but she quickly realizes that having an assistant can be a little bit tricky.

Mahak Jain has taken a very common childhood social situation and put it in a lovely frame. With the backdrop of imaginary play, Mahak Jain shows readers that sometimes social situations can be tricky and they often involve compromise which takes time to learn and accept. Not everyone will be the perfect co-pilot but when you find one, in order to hold on to them, everyone needs a turn leading the play. 

Mahak Jain is conservative with the text, not overly complicating the explanations and letting the illustrations do lots of the talking as well. The Only Astronaut is a story that will appeal to young readers as it will hold their attention throughout the whole reading.

I love the choice to give the book a comic feel. There is enough in the text as it is to appeal to the young readers and older readers will have a fun time digging into the speech bubble text and expanding their understanding of the story.

Andrea Segmaier’s illustrations are fabulous. I love how she is able to capture the imaginative play alongside the reality of where Avni and Aya are playing with the overlapping line drawings. It’s a unique style that readers will really enjoy and can draw inspiration.