When the world faces a global energy crisis, only a team of elite (and very cute) felines can save the day by building a solar power plant on the moon.
Drew Brockington introduces readers to a high-stakes world of space exploration in his CatStronauts series, starting with Mission Moon. The story follows a specialized crew—Major Meowser, the brave leader; Pom Pom, the brilliant engineer; Blanket, the clever pilot; and Waffles, the science officer—as they blast off to solve Earth’s power problems. While the science is real and the missions are dangerous, the characters remain playful and relatable. This long-running series currently features seven books, giving students plenty of adventures to dive into once they finish the first mission.
This series is a fantastic classroom tool because it uses a graphic novel format to make complex science approachable. The full-color panels and expressive character designs provide constant visual clues, which help English language learners and hesitant readers follow the action without getting stuck on every word. Brockington fills the dialogue with silly cat-themed puns like “pawesome” and “meow or never,” making the reading experience feel like a game rather than a chore. Because the art style and character personalities stay the same across all seven books, students can build their reading stamina quickly. Once they understand the “rules” of the world in Book 1, they can jump into later stories about space debris or digital disasters with much higher confidence.
Total Books in Series: 7 Best Starting Point: Mission Moon
