Red’s Planet, Friends and Foes, sharp art, great story-fabulous book

It’s sometimes difficult to jump into an existing book series. You feel like you’re late to the party, wish that you would’ve discovered it first or are hesitant because you don’t know the characters. Red’s Planet, Friends and Foes is the second book in Eddie Pittman’s series and our first introduction to the characters and I’m eating crow. Hello metaphorical crow, I eat you, not because I said that Red’s Planet wasn’t a good book, rather, I simply thought that based on its cover.

I know, don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s an age old saying that’s correct for a reason. The cover of Red’s Planet, Friends and Foes has Red, a tween Earth girl facing down Goose, a much larger grey cat creature who is the custodian on this foreign planet. They both have signs that encourage people to vote for them. This is not a book about politics; it’s not preachy and doesn’t have a political angle. Of course, if you read the first book (and you should), Red’s Planet you would already know that. However (see my disclaimer in sentence two, paragraph one), people like that need to just live, be happy and enjoy things when they see them.

At its core, Friends and Foes is about friendship and adventure. It’s also fabulously drawn and colored. Red’s Planet has a classic Disney vibe that’s in-line with The Jungle Book, albeit a more surreal, various creatures on a foreign planet look. It’s 100% contemporary, yet its storytelling, pacing and style is classic. Don’t mistake classic for old, fogey and something that your parents liked so you automatically won’t.

In this instance of classic I mean that Red’s Planet, Friends and Foes is one that your kids will read to their kids, that they’ll want to read also. It’s a beautiful graphic novel that any age would be OK with looking at. The vocabulary is such that a 7 year old will be able to read it and understand most of the book. Kids who are 8 and up will be able to read Friends and Foes fluently, enjoy every creative panel and look forward to more adventures of Red, which will be arriving in 2018. A testament to how good of a graphic novel it is for kids lies in the fact that boys and girls can identify with the book equally. Sure the lead (human) character is a girl, but her supporting cast is so diverse, expertly drawn, colored and presented that the book simply feels like it belongs to you.

For us, Red’s Planet, Friends and Foes is easily one of the 10 best all age graphic novels in 2017. It’s so enjoyable that the characters all but perform their own sharply drawn cartoon in front of readers as they follow along. Don’t worry if you didn’t read the first installment, jump into Friends and Foes and then catch up on the first book.