Moving from Earth to the futuristic planet Nebulon in 2120, eight-year-old Zack is nervous about starting school and meeting people. - (Baker & Taylor)

Anticipating the start of school on a new home planet, Earth kid Zack suffers nightmares about slimy classmates with tentacles before making friends with a Nebulite boy who shares his love for space exploration but who demonstrates differences that make Zack homesick for Earth. Simultaneous. - (Baker & Taylor)

Get to know Galaxy Zack'and his new home planet!'in this start to an out-of-this-world illustrated chapter book series.

In Hello, Nebulon!, Zack makes the big move from Earth. He is already nervous about starting school and making new friends, but it only gets worse when he dreams that his classmates are slimy aliens with tentacles, pizza comes covered in gross bugs, and he can never communicate with his Earth friends again! Fortunately, when Zack arrives at Sprockets Academy for his first day of school, he meets and befriends Drake Tucker, a Nebulite boy who also loves to explore and learn about the planets. Nebulon isn't as awful as Zack's dream, but there are a lot of differences between Nebulon and Earth, and they make Zack miss his home in Dubbsville, Texas, even more. But things start to look up when he receives a mysterious surprise. What could it possibly be?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Galaxy Zack chapter books are perfect for beginning readers. - (Simon and Schuster)

Get to know Galaxy Zack—and his new home planet!—in this start to an out-of-this-world illustrated chapter book series.

In Hello, Nebulon!, Zack makes the big move from Earth. He is already nervous about starting school and making new friends, but it only gets worse when he dreams that his classmates are slimy aliens with tentacles, pizza comes covered in gross bugs, and he can never communicate with his Earth friends again! Fortunately, when Zack arrives at Sprockets Academy for his first day of school, he meets and befriends Drake Tucker, a Nebulite boy who also loves to explore and learn about the planets. Nebulon isn’t as awful as Zack’s dream, but there are a lot of differences between Nebulon and Earth, and they make Zack miss his home in Dubbsville, Texas, even more. But things start to look up when he receives a mysterious surprise. What could it possibly be?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Galaxy Zack chapter books are perfect for beginning readers. - (Simon and Schuster)

Ray O’Ryan has loved space stories ever since he watched the very first episode of Star Trek. He loves to imagine what traveling across the galaxy might be like and is a bit jealous of Galaxy Zack in this regard. 

Colin Jack is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and has illustrated several children’s books. He currently works at DreamWorks Animation as a story artist and character designer and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two sons. - (Simon and Schuster)

Ray O'Ryan has loved space stories ever since he watched the very first episode of Star Trek. He loves to imagine what traveling across the galaxy might be like and is a bit jealous of Galaxy Zack in this regard. Ray lives in the beautiful Catskill Mountains in upstate New York with his wife and two lovable, zany cats named Stitch and The Way.

Colin Jack is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and has illustrated several children's books. He currently works at DreamWorks Animation as a story artist and character designer and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two sons. - (Simon and Schuster)

Horn Book Guide Reviews

This new space-age chapter-book series finds eight-year-old Zack Nelson and his family first moving from Earth to Nebulon for his dad's job and later visiting the crystal planet Juno for a school field trip. The year is 2120, and both books provide a good balance of Jetsons-type gadgetry with typical elementary-school concerns. Black-and-white cartoon illustrations add to the lighthearted humor. [Review covers these Galaxy Zack titles: Hello, Nebulon! and Journey to Juno.]

Kirkus Reviews

Moving is always hard, especially if you are 8 years old and your new home is a new planet. The year is 2120, and Zack Nelson and his twin sisters, Cathy and Charlotte, are moving to Nebulon. Zack will especially miss his dog Luna and friend Bert. Zack's vivid fear of the future is explored in a dream sequence in which he imagines his new classmates to be monsters who eat bug-covered pizzas. The reality is quite different, and Zack ends up making a new friend on the first day. Worldbuilding is critical at the beginning of a series, and this world is close enough to Earth for new readers to identify with but alien enough to keep their attention. The cars are actually like tiny spaceships, and the houses are shiny white with rounded edges. Best of all is Ira, short for Indoor Robotic Assistant. Ira makes meals, provides wake-up music, adjusts the shower temperature and makes living on Nebulon pleasant for nervous Zack. More Jetsons than Star Trek, this light tale for new readers is illustrated in a cartoon style that allows readers to feel Zack's pain but happily anticipate the strange new world ahead of him. Zack feels like a new best friend, even if he lives light years away. (Science fiction. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews

Moving is always hard, especially if you are 8 years old and your new home is a new planet. The year is 2120, and Zack Nelson and his twin sisters, Cathy and Charlotte, are moving to Nebulon. Zack will especially miss his dog Luna and friend Bert. Zack's vivid fear of the future is explored in a dream sequence in which he imagines his new classmates to be monsters who eat bug-covered pizzas. The reality is quite different, and Zack ends up making a new friend on the first day. Worldbuilding is critical at the beginning of a series, and this world is close enough to Earth for new readers to identify with but alien enough to keep their attention. The cars are actually like tiny spaceships, and the houses are shiny white with rounded edges. Best of all is Ira, short for Indoor Robotic Assistant. Ira makes meals, provides wake-up music, adjusts the shower temperature and makes living on Nebulon pleasant for nervous Zack. More Jetsons than Star Trek, this light tale for new readers is illustrated in a cartoon style that allows readers to feel Zack's pain but happily anticipate the strange new world ahead of him. Zack feels like a new best friend, even if he lives light years away. (Science fiction. 5-9) Copyright Kirkus 2012 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

In the lively first title in the Galaxy Zack series, set in 2120, Zack is unhappy about moving from Earth to Nebulon for his father's job. Soaring to their new planet in the family space cruiser, the eight-year-old thinks about how much he'll miss his best friend, and has nightmares that his new classmates are monstrous aliens and that Nebulite pizza is topped with worms and "extra-moldy cheese." Yet he's impressed—as will be readers—by the planet's gadgetry: cars and bikes zip through the air, and a sideways-moving elevator transports the family through their house. An invisible, talking computer tends to their every need, and Jack's bed drops from a ceiling panel, as does food that lands on the family's floating dinner table. Illustrator Jack's (Toads on Toast) Jetsons-meets-Johnny Neutron illustrations, which appear on every page, energize the story and make its fun, futuristic details all the easier to envision, while O'Ryan's trim sentences and brisk dialogue are well targeted at beginning readers. A second book, Journey to Juno, is available simultaneously, and four additional titles will arrive later in the year. Ages 5–7. (Apr.)

School Library Journal Reviews

K-Gr 2—Students will blast into the future with these exciting books. Moving is hard enough for an eight-year-old boy, but moving to another planet is a cosmic challenge. Zack Nelson's father has accepted a great new job, but it is on the planet Nebulon. Sure, Zack has visited Mars and Venus lots of times, but this is different. His imagination gets the better of him as he dreams of slimy alien classmates that he won't relate to and food that is simply gross. Yet his biggest worry is that he will never be able to communicate with his friends on Earth again. He faces his fears and bravely embraces his new lifestyle. In Juno, Zack is paired with the class bully during a field trip and learns something about himself and Seth. Students will gravitate toward Zack and relate to his concerns and experiences, especially those who have faced a move. The intergalactic setting and futuristic gadgets will keep youngsters enthralled as they delve into reading chapter books on their own. Parents will also enjoy them as read-alouds because the stories are reminiscent of all of the technological advances of the future that they dreamed of and were introduced to by the Jetsons, Star Trek, and other 20th-century hits. On every page, large, gray-scale illustrations add humor and interest to the crisp, clear texts. These fantastically fun titles will add diversity to any collection and will appeal to boys and girls alike.—Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE