2014
WISE Score
Amazon
Ancient Egypt's most famous queen gets zapped into the future to fight space dictators and pass algebra. It's basically a Saturday morning cartoon in book form.
4.6
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Cleopatra in Space is a total gem for the graphic novel shelf. It’s got that rare quality of being high-energy and 'cool' without relying on snark or mean-spirited humor.
If your kid liked Dog Man but is ready for something with a bit more plot and a lot more sci-fi, this is the move. It’s clean, imaginative, and honestly just a fun ride for parents to read alongside their kids too. No 'brain rot' here—just solid storytelling.
This is the sweet spot for 3rd through 7th graders. It's sophisticated enough to not feel 'babyish' for middle schoolers, but simple enough for an 8-year-old to devour in one sitting.
Cleo starts as a bit of a class-cutter who'd rather shoot slingshots than study, but the arc toward responsibility and leadership is solid. It's got that classic 'hero's journey' vibe without being overly preachy.
Blending Ancient Egyptian aesthetics with futuristic space tech is a total win. Throwing in a talking cat mentor named Khensu and a prophecy about a 'Savior of the Galaxy' makes for a very cool sandbox.
It's published by Graphix (Scholastic), which is the gold standard for 'safe but not boring.' Action is mostly lasers and robots. No gore, no heavy language, just high-stakes sci-fi fun.
It’s not exactly a history lesson—don't expect your kid to pass a test on the Ptolemaic Kingdom after this—but it’s a great 'gateway drug' to graphic novels and might actually make them curious about the real Cleopatra.
If your house is currently a revolving door of Dog Man and Cat Kid sequels, you’ve likely noticed the "what's next?" problem. There is a specific moment in a young reader's life where they still want the visual dopamine hit of a comic, but their brain is starting to crave a persistent plot. They want stakes that last longer than a single chapter's gag.
Cleopatra in Space is the perfect transition. Mike Maihack doesn't just give kids a series of fight scenes; he builds a legitimate space opera that happens to star a teenager who’s bad at algebra. While the premise sounds like a wacky "fish out of water" setup, the series actually respects its audience enough to let the world-building get a little complicated. By the time Cleo is navigating the social hierarchy of Yasiro Academy while dodging an intergalactic dictator, your kid is doing the heavy lifting of tracking character arcs and long-term consequences without even realizing they’ve leveled up their reading stamina.
One of the biggest hurdles for kids who are "reluctant readers" is visual clutter. Some of the most popular graphic novel series for middle-grade readers can get incredibly dense, with crowded panels and muddy colors that make it hard to follow the action. Maihack’s background in character design shines here—the art is incredibly crisp.
The layouts are intuitive, the colors are vibrant, and the character expressions tell half the story. It feels like watching a high-budget animated series on Netflix, which isn't a coincidence—the book eventually spawned its own show. If you have a kid who gets frustrated when a page feels too "busy," this is the antidote. It’s clean, kinetic, and moves at a clip that keeps them turning pages until the lights-out deadline.
It is worth managing expectations: this is not an educational book about Ancient Egypt. If you’re looking for a biographical deep-dive into the Ptolemaic Kingdom, you’re in the wrong quadrant of the galaxy. This version of Cleo is a 15-year-old girl who would rather practice combat than listen to her tutor.
The "Cleopatra" hook is really just a clever way to play with the chosen one trope. It gives the story a bit of mythic weight, but the heart of the book is much more relatable. It’s about the friction of being told you have a "great destiny" when you’d really just like to hang out with your friends and avoid detention. That specific tension—the weight of expectation versus the desire for autonomy—is exactly what hits home for the 10-to-12-year-old demographic.
If your kid has already burned through Ben Hatke’s Zita the Spacegirl or the Amulet series, Cleopatra in Space is the natural next step. It’s slightly more "teen" than Zita but significantly less dark and moody than Amulet. It sits in that high-energy sweet spot where the threats feel real, but the humor keeps the story from feeling heavy.
It’s also an excellent "gateway" book for kids who think they don't like sci-fi. Because the tech is mixed with ancient aesthetics—think futuristic pyramids and high-tech tablets—it feels more like a fantasy adventure than a dry story about spaceships and physics. It’s a fun, fast, and surprisingly smart series that earns its spot on the "must-read" list for the elementary-to-middle-school jump.
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