Sardine in Outer Space 5: My Cousin Manga and other stories

Sardine de l'espace #9-10

by Emmanuel Guibert, Joann Sfar (Illustrator)

“It’s never too late to pick up this series.” - Booklist

She’s a girl.

She’s a space-pirate.

She’s Sardine – and she’s back!

With four Sardine books now published in the U.S., our favorite red-headed space pirate (about whom Kirkus said: “Resistance is futile” in a starred review) has a growing number of young fans.  Eleanor in Brooklyn told us, “I like it that they live on a spaceship.”  Toby, age seven, wrote to say: “I like all the tricks Sardine thinks up.”  And  Jane in California demanded “More, please!”

Now appearing in her fifth collection of ten side-splitting space adventures is Sardine, her stories told in engaging, scribbly artwork by Emmanuel Guibert. 

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Emmanuel Guibert has written a great many graphic novels for readers young and old, among them the Sardine in Outer Space series and The Professor’s Daughter with Joann Sfar.

In 1994, a chance encounter with an American World War II veteran named Alan Cope marked the beginning of a deep friendship and the birth of a great biographical epic.

Another of Guibert's recent works is The Photographer. Showered with awards, translated around the world and soon to come from First Second books, it relates a Doctors Without Borders mission in 1980’s Afghanistan through the eyes of a great reporter, the late Didier Lefèvre.

Guibert lives in Paris with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

[Conan Tigard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sardine in Outer Space 5 is another collection of short stories about Sardine and her friends by Emmanuel Guibert. Joann Sfar, who helped write and illustrate the previous four books, did not contribute to this book.

Sardine is a strong and fun-loving girl that lives in space on the ship Huckleberry. With her friend, L'il Louie, and her parent figure, Captain Yellow Shoulder, they travel the galaxy foiling the plans of Supermuscleman and Doc Krok.

I was a little shocked to see that Joann Sfar did not work with Emmanuel Guibert on this book. After all, they had worked together on the previous four Sardine books. I found that Joann Sfar being absent on book five did not hurt it at all.

All of the stories were fun and quite enjoyable. As for the "murder" in the short story Murder in Space!, nobody dies. In fact, no one has ever died in any of the Sardine books, making the books very safe for early chapter readers.

The artwork is par for the course, but I have noticed that Supermuscleman looks different from when he orginally appeared in the first Sardine book. Back then, he was more evil-looking. Now, he is more cartoon-looking and not so menacing. Personally, I prefer the old Supermuscleman.

Overall, Sardine in Outer Space 5 is another great collection of short stories for the Sardine lover. I give my copies of these books to a school that I work at and the kids just gobble them up. So, if your child has trouble reading early chapter books, or just doesn't like reading books at all, pick up a Sardine graphic novel. This just might be the book that starts them down a path of loving to read.

I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sardine in Outer Space 1 through 4 were all written by Emamnuel Guibert and distinctively illustrated by Joann Sfar. This one, however, is illustrated by Guibert and although it looks very much like the previous 4, and is as wildly imaginative as ever, even my children noticed that the artwork divergee from the previous. But the stories are the same: ten pages each, zany and varied adventures in a whimsical universe. Once again some of the stories have post-modern self references (although it is hard to call it "post-modern" when I just read Moliere plays that do the same thing), including one called "Murder in Space" where they stumble on a murdered corpse and Sardine says "People don't Ausually die in our stories, are you sure it's a real corpse?" And it turns out, of course, that it is not a real corpse but a misunderstanding. The last story features a Manga character who, according to Captain Yellow Shoulder, is in comics that are much more popular than Sardine. All in all, consistently amusing.

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's about a little girl named sardine of course and she travels the universe with her brother and uncle and they try to stop the evil supermuscle man and doc krok. they have super cool adventures. little louie is sardine's brother and he reminds me of woody.i want to read more.

[Nancy Jo Lambert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novels series is new to me, I look forward to recommending this series to kids who are Wimpy Kid fans. This series is funny, filled with action and adventure, and great characters! Kids are going to love the unfolding stories in this series.

[Raufil]

Sardine and her uncle are at the airport waiting for there famous cousin to vist and she gives them a new ship for no rerson

[Jennifer Datus]

So far Sardine cousen is at their house talking about what she goes and do all day. I think they will swich places for a day.

[Brainell · Rating 4 out of 5]

i ask my self were do people get their ideas because they are awesome on it this was one of my favorites of all the sardine series.

[Ainsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this comic.

[Avery Engstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Sardine as a manga character, very cool!

[Damon · Rating 1 out of 5]

These last 2 have no Joann Sfar, so there's really nothing to make them interesting. Oddly, the quality of the writing seems to have degraded with his departure too.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The further adventures of Sardine and the gang! They visit Gram (despite interference), solve a mystery, and even get manga-fied, thanks to Sardine's visiting cousin!

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked it!