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Laika

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 1,949 ratings · 307 reviews

Laika was the abandoned puppy destined to become Earth's first space traveler. This is her journey.

Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for L...more

Paperback, 208 pages

Published September 4th 2007 by First Second

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Mar 30, 2012 Melki rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dogs, graphic-novel, science, keep-the-tissues-handy

Augh! What the heck was I thinking...reading a book where I KNOW the dog dies at the end?!?
I've spent my entire life avoiding Old Yeller for just that reason.

But, Laika's story intrigued me, so I gritted my teeth, and mostly enjoyed the ride.

In 1957, buoyed by the success of Sputnik, Khrushchev ordered up another spectacular stunt...a second satellite launch, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution. The second satellite would carry a passenger - a dog named Laika. With l...more

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Nov 23, 2008 Mahrya rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ages 10-Adult

Shelves: juvenilia

Abadzis, Nick. Laika, First Second, 199 pages. Graphic Novel.

Description: Laika tells the story of the Russia's Sputnik II program and the satellite's canine astronaut, Laika. The book focuses on the dog's hard early life and her bond with a trainer named Yelena.

Review: Any preconception that I had about graphic novels presenting simplistic or cartoonish stories was shattered by this book. Laika, is a complex story that focuses on the deep relationships that can be formed between humans and an...more

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Jan 31, 2008 Cindy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Okay, let's get two things out of the way. One, this is a graphic novel. Two, this is a dead dog book. The latter's not a spoiler--we're all reasonably intelligent people, we've heard of the Sputnik program even if we weren't around to personally witness its impact on the world. The dog dies, okay? That's not an acceptable reason to give this book a pass. (I'm talking to you, Ruth.) As for the former, well, if you're going to read one graphic novel this year, make it this one.

This is a tremendo...more Okay, let's get two things out of the way. One, this is a graphic novel. Two, this is a dead dog book. The latter's not a spoiler--we're all reasonably intelligent people, we've heard of the Sputnik program even if we weren't around to personally witness its impact on the world. The dog dies, okay? That's not an acceptable reason to give this book a pass. (I'm talking to you, Ruth.) As for the former, well, if you're going to read one graphic novel this year, make it this one.

This is a tremendous piece of historical fiction. Or maybe fictional history? Fictional biography? And it's got pictures, too! What's not to love? Some of the players are real people, such as Sergei Korolev, who went from being a prisoner of a Siberian gulag to the father of the Russian space program. Or Oleg Gazenko, a leading "life scientist" and animal trainer in the Soviet space program. Others, such as the families who lose Laika to the streets of Moscow or the new dog handler Yelena who forms such a close bond with Laika, seem to be wholly fictional. The fictional elements give depth to the story and humanize (no, not the dogs!) the people involved. Everyone working on the launch knew the dog was going on a one way trip--the personal glimpses into the major players' lives help us to see how they might have justified that sacrifice to themselves and others.

There's a lot going on in this little book--Cold War Politics, the Space Race, Soviet fear/paranoia/propaganda ('Yes Comrade, of course I'm a loyal member of the party!'), and the ethical treatment of animals. I'd love to see classrooms using this as part of their curriculum. The author, Nick Abadzis, seems to have done his homework--he's incorporated a wealth of facts into the story but it flows seamlessly, never reading like an infodump. And (Cassie Edwards take note) he's included a lengthy bibliography at the end of the book for anyone seeking more information. Give this one a read...but be sure to have some kleenex handy. Lots of kleenex. (less)

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Feb 27, 2008 Claire Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels-or-comics, ya, depressing-or-just-plain-sad, middle-grade

When I started working in a schoool, I thought that my strong immune system would keep me healthy even though all first-year teachers spend the whole year sick from new germs. Was I right? Not at all. It was the same with Laika. I knew that everybody else cried when they read this book, but I thought that somehow I'd be prepared, not that I'd find myself bawling into a bowl of pho on Clement St. And yet.

Laika is the story of the first dog to go up in space. It's not a spoiler to tell you that s...more

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Aug 13, 2007 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dead dog books used to be a dime a dozen. Time was a kid couldn’t walk into a bookstore without getting whacked over the head with “Old Yeller”, creamed in the kisser by “Sounder”, and roughed up royally by “Where the Red Fern Grows”. Recently, however, dogs don’t die as often as all that. You could probably concoct some magnificent sociological explanation for this, citing changes in the political and emotional landscape of our great nation leading to the decrease in deceased literary pups, but...more Dead dog books used to be a dime a dozen. Time was a kid couldn’t walk into a bookstore without getting whacked over the head with “Old Yeller”, creamed in the kisser by “Sounder”, and roughed up royally by “Where the Red Fern Grows”. Recently, however, dogs don’t die as often as all that. You could probably concoct some magnificent sociological explanation for this, citing changes in the political and emotional landscape of our great nation leading to the decrease in deceased literary pups, but as I see it, a good dead dog story is as hard to write as an original paper on Moby Dick. What else is there to say? Man’s best friend dies and everyone feels bad. In this jaded culture it would take a pretty steady hand to find a way to write a dead dog tale that touches us deeply. Not a dog person myself, I direct your attention today to Nick Abadzis. I don’t know how he did it. Laika, the world’s most famous real dead dog (a close second: the dead pooch of Pompeii), is now presented to us in a graphic novel format. Though I prefer cats through and through, “Laika” the novel grabs your heart from your chest and proceeds to dance a tarantella on the remains. The best graphic novels are those books whose stories couldn’t have been told any other way. “Laika” has that honor.

Her story was more than just her own. It encapsulated a vast range of people, many of whom you may have never heard of. As the book begins we see a man named Korolev leaving a Russian gulag in a freezing night. Eighteen years later, he is the Chief Designer of Sputnik and his success is without measure. Buoyed by the success of the successful launch, Khruschev demands that his space program launch a second orbital vehicle within a single month. Enter Laika. An unwanted pup, abused and abandoned on the street, she’s eventually caught and taken to the Institute of Aviation Medicine. There she is one of many dogs, trained for flight travel. Laika bonds immediately with her caretaker Yelena Alexandrovna Dubrovsky and endears herself to the other scientists as well. As it stands, however, no dog is better suited for space travel and Laika is slated to make a trip from which she will never return. Abadzis deftly describes the people who care for the little dog and the process by which she was ultimately abandoned and killed by both science and Cold War mechanics.

Laika’s entire story, as conceived by Abadzis, is heartbreaking but there are certain moments towards the end that I found particularly easy to identify with. When Comrade Yelena visits Laika for one last time she can hear the dog saying her name with every bark, even when Yelena is too far away to hear them. She dreams that Laika is calling out to her for help. That she’s scared and uncomfortable and just wants to get out and play. Anyone who has ever owned a pet will be familiar with this feeling. When the pet is missing or in pain, it’s difficult to keep from emphasizing with it. How much worse then when the dog in question is imprisoned in a capsule and shot into the sky? Abadzis doesn’t just show Laika’s plight. He makes you feel it in the core of your being.

The last page of this book contains a quote that offers a 1998 statement from Oleg Georgivitch Gazenko. In it, he laments the way that Laika was misused. “We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog.” It’s a dead dog book. Anyone who knows the story of Laika will be aware of that. But above and beyond the obvious this is an ode to dogs themselves. To the animals that we befriend and love and, ultimately, destroy. It’s also about history, humanity, and the price of being extraordinary. No one can walk away from this book and not be touched. Consider Nick Abadzis a name to watch from here on in.(less)

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Feb 28, 2008 Michalyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary_graphic_novels, favorites, 2008

This book broke my heart. It's difficult for me to imagine what the world was like during the Cold War and the suspicion, fear and competition that motivated it, so reading Laika was like stepping into another time.

Abadzis tells the story of Laika, the first dog to be sent into space as part of the US-Soviet race to the moon. We follow her from puppyhood all the way to her ill-fated selection as the test subject for the program. The art in the book is simple but vivid and through it we come to s...more

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Jan 30, 2009 Erik rated it 4 of 5 stars

The title character of this work of historical fiction is surprisingly not the main character of Abadzis’ narrative. Rather, the heroes (or is that “tragic heroes”?) of this beautifully adapted graphic novel are the low-level Soviet scientists – Comrades Yelena Dubrovsky and Sergei Pavlovich -- who are nearly crushed by the post-Stalin, Khruschev governmental machinery that not only won’t take no for an answer, but exists solely to advance anti-humanistic Soviet ideology. Not to mention beat the...more

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Jan 07, 2009 Andika rated it 4 of 5 stars

FRS tinggal sehari lagi, tiba-tiba saya jadi keranjingan membaca. Bosan dengan buku-buku yang isinya tulisan semua, saya pun memilih Laika, sebuah graphic novel (komik yang bertema berat, seperti novel) karya Nick Abadzis.

Laika ditulis berdasarkan kisah nyata seekor anjing, bernama Laika tentu saja, yang merupakan makhluk hidup pertama yang dikirimkan ke ruang angkasa. Cerita ini berlatar pada awal Perang Dingin, sekitar tahun 1950-1960an, di mana Uni Soviet dan Amerika Serikat bersaing ketat di...more FRS tinggal sehari lagi, tiba-tiba saya jadi keranjingan membaca. Bosan dengan buku-buku yang isinya tulisan semua, saya pun memilih Laika, sebuah graphic novel (komik yang bertema berat, seperti novel) karya Nick Abadzis.

Laika ditulis berdasarkan kisah nyata seekor anjing, bernama Laika tentu saja, yang merupakan makhluk hidup pertama yang dikirimkan ke ruang angkasa. Cerita ini berlatar pada awal Perang Dingin, sekitar tahun 1950-1960an, di mana Uni Soviet dan Amerika Serikat bersaing ketat di segala bidang, termasuk teknologi penjelajahan ruang angkasa. Setelah Rusia berhasil meluncurkan satelit tanpa awak Sputnik I, yang sukses menjadi simbol keberhasilan propaganda Uni Soviet sebagai sebuah kekuatan adidaya, diceritakan Presiden Nikita Kruschev menjadi semakin bernafsu untuk memamerkan teknologi yang dimiliki negaranya. Maka untuk merayakan ulang tahun revolusi Uni Soviet, Kruschev memerintahkan agar para ilmuwannya kembali meluncurkan satelit dalam tenggat waktu satu bulan. Tentu saja satelit kali ini mesti berbeda dengan satelit yang pertama. Untuk itu, para ilmuwan maju dengan ide mengirimkan anjing ke ruang angkasa.

Sebetulnya saya sudah mengincar Laika sejak beberapa minggu yang lalu, hanya saja harganya terlampau mahal. Untuk sebuah komik yang tidak menyertakan nugget (deskripsi cerita di sampul belakang), Laika dibandrol seharga 63 ribu rupiah. (50 ribuan, harga Toko Buku Diskon Togamas.) Di sampulnya tidak ada endorsement maupun tanda-tanda komik ini pernah mendapat penghargaan, alhasil membeli Laika sebetulnya setengah berjudi karena saya tidak tahu ceritanya memang bagus atau tidak. Belakangan, baru diketahui bahwa graphic novel ini memenangkan Eisner Award (penghargaan tertinggi untuk karya komik) pada kategori Komik Terbaik Untuk Remaja, dan menjadi nominator untuk kategori Komik Terbaik Berdasarkan Kisah Nyata.

Bisa dibilang Laika sangat baik dari segi cerita maupun akurasi fakta. Emosi pembaca besar kemungkinan akan teraduk-aduk oleh alur cerita komik full-color ini, apalagi kalau pembaca tersebut pecinta anjing atau memiliki hewan peliharaan. Ketika membaca Laika, saya tidak merasa menemukan pesan-pesan politis yang eksplisit, seperti: Komunisme itu dekat dengan Fasisme, dsb. Dan ini adalah nilai tambah. Saya jadi teringat komik Tintin yang pernah saya baca ketika anak-anak: Ekspedisi ke Bulan dan Penjelajahan di Bulan. "Apakah ada propaganda dalam komik Tintin?" Tampaknya pilihan Nick Abadzis untuk tetap berfokus pada interaksi Laika dengan manusia di sekitarnya, merupakan pendekatan tepat untuk membuat pembaca bersimpati pada anjing yang luar biasa ini.

Laika diterbitkan oleh Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Berhubung gambarnya berwarna semua, kertasnya jadi agak bagusan. Wajar bila harganya mahal. Direkomendasikan untuk penggemar novel grafis dan orang-orang yang tertarik mempelajari perang dingin, terutama perang teknologi ruang angkasa antara Amerika Serikat dan Uni Soviet.(less)

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Dec 12, 2008 Jess rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: animal lovers wanting a sad tail(sorry), Librarians - cold war bibliography, USSR history fiends

Recommended to Jess by: group from children's lit

Shelves: z_08, historical-fiction, non-fiction, graphic-novel

Laika blends four stories: Korolev, a political prisoner turned Soviet space engineer, Yelena, a lab tech in charge of dogs, Gazenko, Soviet space scientist, and Laika nee Kudryavka, the first dog in space.

Sad but interesting read. A useful look into cold war Soviet Union--notice the way propaganda is spoken of--that students would read. My only read objection is to chapter 2, where Adabzis creates a fictional backstory of Laika. I get that he's mirroring Korolev's struggle but it's unnecessary....more

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Dec 22, 2012 Eric Piotrowski rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics, graphic-novels, history, nonfiction

I first found out about Laika when I became infatuated with the downtempo electronic music band of the same name. When I saw this book in our school's library I became very excited. I didn't know too much about her, but I jumped in with intrigue.

The story is beautifully told, wrapped around the true story of Sergei Korolev, a chief engineer for the USSR. Some characters are fabricated and some events are embellished, but so far as I can tell, all of the events of Laika's life appear in the novel...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Elfira rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: translation-indonesian, graphic-novel, author-british, origin-english

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is the story of a Russian dog sent to the earth orbit in Sputnik II, Laika (lit. the barker). The story was sad but that's what happened in a real life. I feel like it's a story of helpless, trapped characters.

There was a chief designer who was forced to answer his leader wish to launch something into space in a month time, the team who had to make adjustments here and there and decided to not include the return-to-earth plan, the dogs carer/instructor who knew a little too late about the...more This is the story of a Russian dog sent to the earth orbit in Sputnik II, Laika (lit. the barker). The story was sad but that's what happened in a real life. I feel like it's a story of helpless, trapped characters.

There was a chief designer who was forced to answer his leader wish to launch something into space in a month time, the team who had to make adjustments here and there and decided to not include the return-to-earth plan, the dogs carer/instructor who knew a little too late about the whole plan and had nothing on her hand to stop it, and of course Laika who could not do anything but to submit to whatever mankind had decided to do with her life.

Throughout the story, I also gradually became helpless, I found it hard to blame anybody. The nearest person I'd like to curse might be the chief designer. The leader? I stay away from him, they're Russian. But then again the chief designer was just doing what he had been told to. And it was not just that, before he was a chief designer, he was wrongly accused and got prisoned. He struggled through hard times but he didn't give up. I like how he kept reminding himself by saying: "I will not die. I am destined to be somebody big. I will not die" (pardon my sentences, I read the Indonesian translation and have not checked the original edition). That's how the opening goes, him walking in a stormy night trying to get to Moscow with a hope to get his name cleared.

Laika's life before Sputnik II is also portrayed in a way that I root for the dog because of her patience. She was loved of course, she was told to be one special dog. But she also managed to keep running into people who wanted to hurt her (can I count the Sputnik team in?). What mesmerized me was Laika seemed to keep her faith in kindness and in human. Is it because she is a dog? But I've seen dogs in Dog Whisperer TV shows that got traumatized. Or maybe because it's just a graphic novel and the author got to decide? I don't know, I haven't yet to find out how deep the author's research for this novel.

More heartwrentching point? There's a quote from the chief designer at the end of the novel. He said that the information gathered from the Sputnik II launch was not significant. It didn't have contribution to the first human trip to space that happened 4 years after Sputnik II. At this point, the for-science excuse immediately faded away and the unforgiving thought in my mind wondered if Laika died to only fulfill the leader's wish.

(less)

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Jun 21, 2012 Rachael Smyczak rated it 5 of 5 stars

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I wanted to read some graphic novels because it had been a while and I remembered that I really enjoyed them. I went to the Young Adult section in the library I picked up the first one on the shelf. It was Laika and I had no idea what I was getting into.

It was wonderful.

In Russia, Laika starts as a little stray puppy named Kudravka because of her curly tail. A woman tries to find her a home, refusing her daughter's wish to keep the dog because they already h...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Antoine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Le 4 octobre 1957, les Russes mettent en orbite Spoutnik 1, le premier satellite artificiel de l’histoire. Les autorités soviétiques, Khrouchtchev en tête, exige alors des ingénieurs de faire encore mieux : lancer une deuxième fusée, mais cette fois avec un être vivant à bord. L’aventure de Laïka vient de commencer.

Durant les années 50, la course vers l’espace était le terrain d’affrontement par excellence entre Soviétiques et Américains. À mi-chemin entre récit historique et BD indépendante, La...more Le 4 octobre 1957, les Russes mettent en orbite Spoutnik 1, le premier satellite artificiel de l’histoire. Les autorités soviétiques, Khrouchtchev en tête, exige alors des ingénieurs de faire encore mieux : lancer une deuxième fusée, mais cette fois avec un être vivant à bord. L’aventure de Laïka vient de commencer.

Durant les années 50, la course vers l’espace était le terrain d’affrontement par excellence entre Soviétiques et Américains. À mi-chemin entre récit historique et BD indépendante, Laïka est un album assez difficile à classer. En partant de faits réels, Nick Abadzis a imaginé un récit presque intimiste qui, au-delà de la politique et la propagande, raconte la vie et les espoirs des différents acteurs de ces premières aventures spatiales. Korolev, ingénieur en chef condamné au goulag sous Staline puis gracié, voit dans les étoiles la condition pour sa liberté. Yelena, la garde chien, et Gazenko, le vétérinaire, qui écrasés par la paranoïa entretenue par le Parti, n’arrivent pas à se trouver. Et Laïka dans tout ça ? Elle sert de fil conducteur, de sa naissance à sa fin tragique, elle est le témoin de la réalité soviétique, des ruelles moscovites au firmament.

Le trait de ce jeune auteur anglais touche-à-tout (BD, dessin de presse, livres pour enfants, illustrations) peut paraître un peu frustre au premier abord, mais se révèle rapidement très efficace et parfaitement maîtrisé. Les personnages sont très bien rendus, au diapason de leur vécu, il s’agit de « vraies » personnes, pas de gravures de mode. Le travail d’Abadzis démontre bien qu’utiliser un style photographique n’est pas indispensable pour dessiner de façon réaliste. La mise en page est également remarquable, il utilise une multitude de point-de-vues, n’hésitant pas à choisir des angles audacieux pour ce style de récit. Le petit format ne rend peut-être pas assez honneur à ses efforts de mise en page.

Laïka, dans son style, est une réussite. Nick Abadzis arrive à tenir en haleine le lecteur tout au long des deux cent pages de cet album.
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Dec 27, 2011 Emily Lakdawalla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: planetary

In Laika Nick Abadzis tells a fictionalized story of the life and death of the first living thing intentionally launched into space: an ex-street dog who orbited Earth aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. In 2002 it was revealed that, contrary to previous claims, Laika survived only a short time after launch, succumbing to overheating and stress after only three or four orbits. It was this revelation that prompted Abadzis to write Laika.

Although Laika is the book's central character, I'd argu...more In Laika Nick Abadzis tells a fictionalized story of the life and death of the first living thing intentionally launched into space: an ex-street dog who orbited Earth aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. In 2002 it was revealed that, contrary to previous claims, Laika survived only a short time after launch, succumbing to overheating and stress after only three or four orbits. It was this revelation that prompted Abadzis to write Laika.

Although Laika is the book's central character, I'd argue that the book is less about the little dog than it is about the people whose lives she touched. Abadzis does not make Laika a cartoon by attempting to make her speak her mind in words; throughout the novel, she acts like a dog. The human characters are both real (such as the Sputnik launch vehicle's Chief Designer, Sergei Korolev) and imagined (such as the dog trainer Yelena Dubrovich), and through them Abadzis seems to be exploring how this charismatic dog could have been sent on a trip to space with no hope of returning alive, how that choice was made in the first place and the range of ways people reacted to it, from apathy to grief. (Even if the spacecraft had functioned correctly, she would have been intentionally euthanized by being served poisoned food before reentering and burning up.)

Abadzis thoroughly researched the beginnings of the Russian space program and based his spare drawings on photos and historical sources gleaned from research performed in Russia, so even if the dialogue and many of the characters are fictional, the book tells the story of Laika's launch and of the last hours of her life as accurately as he could. And through the experience of Laika's fictional trainer, Abadzis just rips your heart out of your chest -- poor Laika, who must have trusted her handlers as all dogs trust their masters, even to being packed into her tiny capsule and launched on a mission of no return. It's a fast read and a recommended one, but have some tissues handy!(less)

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Oct 15, 2011 Adil rated it 5 of 5 stars

This graphic novel explores the depth of the bond between human beings and animals. Laika is a stray dog who is chosen as a passenger for the Soviet Sputnik II spacecraft, thereby making her the first animal to go into space.

The book opens with Sergei Korolev's release from a Russian gulag where he was unjustly imprisoned. As he straggles out of the gulag into the frozen Russian winter, he knows he must not die. "I am a man of destiny."

Indeed, it is Korolev's destiny to become the Father of the...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Beaverton City Library Teens rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels, realistic

With the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, the Soviet Union officially caught space hysteria; Premier Kruschev vowed to rush another rocket in space within the next month. In the hopes of one day launching a human into space, the Soviets were using dogs to experiment with the effects of space travel on living organisms. Abadzis' graphic novel is the tale of Laika, one such dog doomed to fly on Sputnik 2 and never return.
The book opens with Korolev, the rocket project's soon-to-be designer, paroled f...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Sarri added it

Palkittu sarjakuvaromaani Laika lunasti kaikki odotukseni. Pieteetillä tehty sarjakuva maailman kuuluisimman eläinkokeen uhrista kylmän sodan kilpavarustelun aikana liikutti jo alkusivuilla, vaikka totuuden nimissä "Laikan" päähenkilöitä ovat kyllä koiran elämään vaikuttaneet ihmiset. Laika (Haukkuja), alkuaan Kudryavka (Pikku Kippura hännänkiemuran mukaan) oli kertojan mukaan sekarotuinen koira vahinkopentueesta. Kudryavka siirtyi sattuman kaupalla nuoren pojan kaltoinkohtelemaksi lemmikiksi, k...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Alyce (At Home With Books) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this graphic novel at the library because I liked the cover, and I liked the idea of learning a little bit more about the Soviet space program via fiction.

So, who is Laika and what does she have to do with the Soviet space program?

Laika (Russian: Лайка, literally meaning "Barker") was a Soviet space dog (c. 1954 – November 3, 1957) who became the first animal to orbit the Earth and the first orbital death. Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living things at the time...more I picked up this graphic novel at the library because I liked the cover, and I liked the idea of learning a little bit more about the Soviet space program via fiction.

So, who is Laika and what does she have to do with the Soviet space program?

Laika (Russian: Лайка, literally meaning "Barker") was a Soviet space dog (c. 1954 – November 3, 1957) who became the first animal to orbit the Earth and the first orbital death. Little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living things at the time Laika's mission was launched. Some scientists believed humans would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space, so engineers viewed flights by non-human animals as a necessary precursor to human missions. Laika, a stray, originally named Kudryavka (Russian: Кудрявка Little Curly-Haired One), underwent training with two other dogs, and was eventually chosen as the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space on November 3, 1957. Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, and Laika had always been intended to die. (Wikipedia)

Prior to reading this book I had no idea who Laika was, so I flipped to the back of this book and skimmed the ending (something I almost never do before reading a book). When I saw what happened to Laika it made me pause to reconsider reading it because I have an aversion to books about animals that die. I just don't read them if I can avoid it because they are so sad. I decided to give the book a try though anyway.

A photo of the real life Laika (found at Thunderhaven).
I thought that the artwork in the book was done well, and liked the inclusion of a secondary storyline about a Soviet official who had previously been in the gulag, but had risen to a position where he was in charge of the launch. This storyline gives the reader a simplified look at the political climate and difficulties that citizens of the Soviet Union faced at the time.

Another photo of the real Laika (from Thunderhaven).

Laika's story will pull at your heartstrings. The book follows Laika from birth up until her flight around the Earth. The author has done a great job of portraying her story in such a way that you can empathize with feelings that the dog may have had for the people around her. I also appreciated that the author portrayed the Soviet scientists and the animal caretaker as three dimensional characters who had their own doubts and sorrows about sending Laika on her one-way mission.

Memorial Statue (from Thunderhaven).

Normally I would shy away from recommending such a sad animal story, but really the focus of this story is not on the death of Laika, but rather on her life. I came away from the story with a sense of how even a small dog can leave a lasting legacy.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have a bit of an obsession with the story of Laika, the dog the Russians sent into orbit on Sputnik 2 in 1957. As a way to capitalize on the success of Sputnik 1 a month earlier, the team was sent reeling into action to send a living being into space in time for the 40th year celebration of the Soviet Revolution. As a result, there was no time to develop a plan to get Sputnik 2 back to earth...it, and Laika ("bark" in Russian) were doomed to die in space. At the time, the world was told that t...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Emilia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dogs, soviet-union, space-race, historical, favorites, reviewed

This book had popped up as a recommended book on Goodreads a while ago, but I ignored it, and maybe I should have, because learning about Laika has been very heartbreaking for me.

I first learned about Laika this week and scoured the internet to find all the information I could about her. There's not much, unfortunately, but I thought I would read this book, since I heard it was well researched, even if not everything in the book was true. She was the first dog and first living creature put into...more This book had popped up as a recommended book on Goodreads a while ago, but I ignored it, and maybe I should have, because learning about Laika has been very heartbreaking for me.

I first learned about Laika this week and scoured the internet to find all the information I could about her. There's not much, unfortunately, but I thought I would read this book, since I heard it was well researched, even if not everything in the book was true. She was the first dog and first living creature put into space/orbit. Unfortunately, because of political pressure, the engineers in the program didn't have enough time to formulate a plan to bring her home and she died in space after a few hours. This book is about Laika, her fictionalized keeper, Yelena, Korolev, the chief designer of the Soviet Space Program and Gazenko, one of the scientists involved with Laika.

Laika gets a back story, and while this is obviously speculation, we can never imagine Laika's life before she was in the space program, these scenes were really tearjerkers for me. I thought I would not like the back story, but I think it added something to the overall story. Because there is not a lot of information on Laika, there has to be some speculation. I liked the scenes where she flew in people's dreams. Like she was already ready to meet her destiny. Not to say that I enjoyed her death, but I thought the scenes of her flying, in dreams and in space were beautifully rendered and captured her spirit.

The character of Yelena and her relationship with the dogs was a big tearjerker for me, too. I like how Abadzis didn't anthropomorphize Laika, but had Yelena speaking for her. All animal lovers do this to an extent and I read an interview with Abadzis where he made this point as well, that we as humans project their emotions and experiences on animals. The trust between her and Laika was heartbreaking, as well. I think the afterword put it best, "the personal stories, both canine and human, that bring Laika alive as a meditation on the meaning of destiny and the fragile beauty of trust."

That, to me, is what the book was about. Korolev and Laika both had a destiny and Laika trusted her keepers and they sent her on a one-way ticket to space. Not to criticize the scientists, as at least one of them, Gazenko, regretted the experiment. They really were doing something they believed was for the good of science, but I think the book shows how they grappled with it, that maybe it wasn't an easy decision for them.

As stated before, I liked the depiction of her flying into space, while it was sad, I think it also depicted that she finally had a sort freedom as she flew into oblivion. And when she and Sputnik II returned to earth, she left a mark. I thought ending with the blackness was beautiful and it contrasted nicely with the opening all in white.

Overall, this book was amazing. I think Abadzis captured all the conflicting emotions about Laika and the Soviet space program. I cried through most of the book.

A quote from Gazenko captures everything best: "Work with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We shouldn't have done it... We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog."

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Jun 08, 2011 Brian Kelley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Any story involving a mistreated animal just rakes at my gut--I'm a sucker for that type of manipulation. I can't even watch Marley & Me even though I read the book when it first came out. I'm serious when I say I steadfastly refuse to even look at the screen if my girlfriend puts Marley & Me on television. I've always had dogs and have become wired to respond emotionally to them. Few other stories have come anywhere near generating those types of heavy emotions in me.

Books earning 5/5 s...more Any story involving a mistreated animal just rakes at my gut--I'm a sucker for that type of manipulation. I can't even watch Marley & Me even though I read the book when it first came out. I'm serious when I say I steadfastly refuse to even look at the screen if my girlfriend puts Marley & Me on television. I've always had dogs and have become wired to respond emotionally to them. Few other stories have come anywhere near generating those types of heavy emotions in me.

Books earning 5/5 stars because they evoke an emotional reaction from me is as good a reason as any for high praise. I praise this book, however, not because there is great artistic merit or style. It is a fair book if the story were not true. But it is true, and so the story of the little dog, Laika (a.k.a. Kudryavka), launched into space to die inside Sputnik II ripped me. I knew nothing about the use of dogs (or any animals) during the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States of America before reading the graphic novel Laika by Nick Abadzis.

To be fair, a percentage of the book is fictional. Abadzis does well to paint Laika a hero and builds a former life full of wicked men and women and loneliness and isolation. Which sets us up for how Laika dies, in cramped isolation and lonely. Actually, the cause of her grizzly death was stress and overheating. Her body circled the Earth for some time before Sputnik II disintegrated on its return to the atmosphere. I read that there was quite an outcry against the Soviets for this once the truth came out.

The story would work well in a middle school classroom as this is just the type of issue a middle school student likes to debate and wrestle: should we use animals for scientific advancement? Additionally, if we are around middle school students at all we know we hear the term "That's not fair!" repeatedly. Developmentally, the concept of fairness is important to young people. What happens to this little dog throughout its life will spur a lively debate in any middle school classroom.

Abandoned and abused at a young age, Laika, also experiences a savage attack and killing of another dog she grew close with. This book does not shy away from the issue of cruelty. Kids will also need to talk about that specific incident in the book.

The images in the story are not necessarily anything special and I glossed over many. However, because the core of the story is a small dog, the recurring images of her reminds us it is a living being. The images personalize it. The dog has a face, a smile, and eventually, someone who cares for it and loves it: Yelena Dubrovsky.

For as much as this is a story about the life of a dog sacrificed for science, it is also a human story. We see so many different types of treatment of animals in this story. Abadzis strength is balancing the cruelty with the kindness. Yet, it is the attachment between Yelena and Laika which takes center stage because in the end Yelena is forced to betray the dog she loves. This little dog who has had the most unfortunate existence, finally lands into the arms of human she can trust, and does trust.

Yelena's job was to care for and train all of the dogs used for experimentation in the Soviet space program. Eventually, Laika is hastily sent into space on Sputnik II. In order to properly beat the Americans, some corners had to be cut in the process. One such cut corner was there was no re-entry system created for Sputnik II. Laika was sent into space to perish so that the Soviets could learn what it would take for a human to survive during space travel.

A quote at the end of the graphic novel from 1998 by Oleg Grazenko, one of the leading Soviet scientists directly involved with Sputnik II, admits the waste of Laika's life:
Working with animals is a source of suffering to all of us. We treat them like babies who cannot speak. The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog.

There are real images up on the internet of Laika as this is above all a graphic novel which introduces a moment in history. A moment which young people can use for some great conversation about science, ethics, loyalty, betrayal, prepaganda, and the relationships humans forge with animals.

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Nov 18, 2011 Tiwik rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ditengah perang dingin Rusia-Amerika, keberhasilan Rusia dalam meluncurkan pesawat antariksa Sputnik 1 mendahului Amerika menjadi semacam simbolisasi kemenangan Sosialisme atas Kapitalisme sehingga Pemimpin tertinggi Rusia Khruscev menjadi terobsesi untuk sesegera mungkin meluncurkan Sputnik 2 dalam jangka waktu 1 bulan setelahnya untuk memberi kemenangan telak atas AS. Peluncuran harus dilakukan saat perayaan Revolusi tanggal 3 november 1957.

Sang Chief Designer, Sergey Korolev tidak punya banya...more Ditengah perang dingin Rusia-Amerika, keberhasilan Rusia dalam meluncurkan pesawat antariksa Sputnik 1 mendahului Amerika menjadi semacam simbolisasi kemenangan Sosialisme atas Kapitalisme sehingga Pemimpin tertinggi Rusia Khruscev menjadi terobsesi untuk sesegera mungkin meluncurkan Sputnik 2 dalam jangka waktu 1 bulan setelahnya untuk memberi kemenangan telak atas AS. Peluncuran harus dilakukan saat perayaan Revolusi tanggal 3 november 1957.

Sang Chief Designer, Sergey Korolev tidak punya banyak waktu untuk membuat spesifikasi yang sama seperti Sputnik 1, dia harus memodifikasi rancangannya menjadi lebih sederhana tetapi tetap dengan hasil yang prestisius. Dan dia memutuskan untuk membuat pesawat antariksa dengan menyertakan makhluk hidup di dalamnya! Sesuatu yang oleh masyarakat pada waktu itu dianggap tidak mungkin.

Adalah Kudryavka, seekor anjing berekor lengkung yang memikat dan tenang yang karena suatu sebab menjadi anjing jalanan dan diburu oleh petugas pengumpul anjing liar. Karena tempat penampungan sudah penuh sehingga nasib anjing liar diputuskan untuk di’tidurkan’ atau akan dibawa ke tempat-tempat percobaan. Dan nasib Kudryavka telah ditentukan untuk masuk ke Institut Kedokteran Aviasi di Moscow.

Di Institut ini, Kudryavka akan menjalani berbagai sesi pelatihan untuk persiapan penerbangan antariksa bersama anjing-anjing lainnya. Yelena Dubrovsky, spesialis trainer untuk anjing telah jatuh hati pada Kudryavka sejak pertama kali bertemu, sebuah perasaan yang tidak boleh ada dalam profesinya. Bersama koleganya ilmuwan Oleg Gazenko, Yelena diminta untuk mempersiapkan anjing-anjing tersebut sebelum peluncuran. Menjelang hari H dilakukan pemilihan 3 anjing terbaik yang akan diberangkatkan pada misi angkasa luar tersebut, pada saat pemilihan tersebutlan Kudryavka mengeluarkan gonggongan pertama sehingga dia kemudian diberi nama Laika yang artinya gonggongan. Seolah menyerukan sebuah gonggongan keberatan untuk berpisah dengan orang-orang yang menyayanginya dengan tulus terutama kepada mistress Yelena.

Nick Abadziz menggambarkan hubungan Yelena dengan Kudryavka/Laika dan anjing-anjing lainnya dengan begitu menyentuh, seolah-olah Yelena bisa berbicara secara personal kepada masing-masing anjing untuk berbagi perasaan. Perasaan yang membuatnya depresi ketika harus mendampingi mereka menuju kematian, tetapi loyalitas kepada Negara tidak memberinya pilihan. Laika mati setelah baterai sistem penopang hidupnya habis. Pasca peluncuran Sputnik 2, Yelena dan Oleg menyatakan mundur dari profesi mereka. Mereka tidak sanggup lagi menanggung rasa bersalah untuk peluncuran-peluncuran berikutnya. Karena setelah Laika, Rusia meluncurkan lagi 10 anjing ke luar angkasa, 5 diantaranya mati. Mereka merupakan bagian dari persiapan peluncuran manusia ke luar angkasa. Pada tanggal 12 April 1961, kosmonaut Rusia Yuri Gagarin merupakan manusia pertama yang pergi ke antariksa dengan pesawat Vostok 1. Gagarin satu kali mengorbit bumi dan mendarat kembali dengan selamat ke bumi.

Yang ikut trenyuh,
Tiwikovich :D(less)

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Sep 04, 2012 Shazza Maddog rated it 5 of 5 stars

Nick Abadzis has taken Laika, the dog the Russians sent into space during the Cold War, and provided a beautiful graphic novel of her life. From her puppyhood in the hands of people who loved her, up until being tossed onto the streets and picked up as a stray and sold to the Russian Air Force, this story continues up through the final hours of Laika.

While the tale is definitely about the dog, the story revolves around the people around her - Dr. Oleg Gazenko, Yelena Dubrovsky, and Sergei Korol...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Annie rated it 3 of 5 stars

The idea behind this book has immediate appeal--it's about Laika, the first dog to be launched into space (by the USSR on Sputnik II). But it's definitely not the light and fun read that I was expecting.

It starts with the head of the USSR's space flight program trying to walk himself out of a gulag (Siberian prison) where he has been released (although not acquitted) in order to be a scientist again--if he is able to survive the walk back to civilization. You then meet Laika as a puppy who is gi...more

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Apr 16, 2012 cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gn-graphic-novels, indonesian

Sebuah GN yang menceritakan 2 tokoh berbeda yang mempunyai andil besar dalam penerbangan Sputnik II ke ruang angkasa. Di bagian awal dikisahkan tentang seorang ilmuwan yang dituduh pengkhianat dan dipenjara si Siberia saat terjadinya pergantian kekuasaan di Rusia. Tokoh ini ditinjau ulang kasusnya dan (di kemudian hari) akan menjadi ketua bagian desain roket-roket Sputnik. Menjelang paruh buku, kita diperkenalkan pada seekor anjing dengan ekor melengkung. Dari anak anjing manis yang disayangi, m...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Seth Hahne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics

Books with dogs tend to manipulate. That’s just the nature of the literary and cinematic landscape. Old Yeller. Where the Red Fern Grows. Homeward Bound. It’s like a rule. And rather than subvert this, LAIKA‘s pretty up front about the fact that it will in no way deviate from the script. It relishes in its formulaic, heart-melting prison of manipulation and contrivance.

Really, unless you’re a fan of being manipulated, the book’s only saving graces are that it offers an eye into Russia’s Cold War...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Tazitazitazi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: around-the-world-in-80-books, comics

Tek sam prije par godina, u svojim tridesetima, saznala da se Lajka nikada nije vratila na Zemlju (view spoiler) i zbog toga sam bila šokirana, razočarana i tužna (doslovno na rubu suza). Osjećala sam se prevareno jer 1. svemirski putnik nije preživio let te uživao u slavi i njenim blagodatima. Do jučer sam mislila da je to...more

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May 07, 2013 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, graphic-novels, young-adult-lit

Wow, I really liked this. It's one of those tricky genre mash-ups, though: a fictionalized account (the dog Laika's perspective, mostly) layered on top of rich historical research & information.

It was fascinating to learn about the Russian space program and the race to have manned space missions. The story moves between Laika's story, the story of the girl & mother who found her, the engineer Kolov, and the dog trainer, Yelena. These switches in time and perspective are effortless; the...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Heidi by: Michelle

Shelves: fiction-historical, graphic-novel, from-library-albury, history-european, spacegeekery

Oh, this was beautiful, and heartbreaking, and utterly brilliant, really. It weaves together the story of Korolev, Laika, and Laika's handler Yelena Dubrovsky in a semi-fiction/semi-non-fictional story about the first dog to orbit the Earth.

Possibly the most heartbreaking moment is at the very end of the book: a quote from Oleg Grezenko, one of Dubrovsky's superiors, and a key character in the book.

I really am warming to the genre of graphic novels, and this one managed to bring Korolev to life,...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Shauna rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a beautiful, very poignant book. It's a gorgeous graphic telling (blending fact and fiction) of the story of Laika, the Russian cosmo-dog. It's categorized as JRHI/YA in our library, but I highly recommend it to anyone. It's a layered story involving not just the dog, but a driven scientist, Korolev, and the lab technician, Yelena, who's in charge of Laika's health and "well-being" leading up to her (Laika's)launch as the live passenger of Sputnik 2. It's very compelling, and the artwork...more

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About Nick Abadzis

Nick Abadzis was born in Sweden to Greek and English parents and was brought up in Switzerland and England. He is a writer and artist who likes comics (which means these days he seems to be known as a “graphic novelist”). His work for both adults and children has been published in many countries across the world.

He also works as an editorial consultant and has helped set up several best-selling an...more

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The Amazing Mr. Pleebus (Pleebus Planet)

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Trivia About Laika

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Quotes from Laika

“For once, it seems there's nothing to worry about...
...for the time being.
Of course, nothing lasts.
And why worry about that?
One must learn not to.
Every day, every moment is a frontier to a country that, once crossed, can never be returned to.
Most of the time, we don't notice.
Which is just how it should be.
The secret....
...is not to worry.
You can't go back.
Although, those you leave behind...
...will still think of you.
Most of the time, we don't notice the small, gradual changes...
...only the sudden, unexpected ones.
...But once you understand that nothing lasts...
...everything's alright.
After all, something always comes along that changes everything. And, once you realize this, you find that you're no longer imprisoned by this truth...
...but freed by it.” — 2 people liked it

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