Planet of the Dips

Space Brat #4

by Bruce Coville, Katherine Coville (Illustrator)

Finding himself and his crew on the silliest planet in the universe after a mischievous mad scientist fiddles with the spaceship wiring, Captain Blork is challenged to discover the planet's strange secret. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, Childrens, Humor

72 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1950. His family lived in farm territory, about twenty miles north of Syracuse. Bruce grew up around the corner from his grandparents' dairy farm, where he spent a great deal of time as a child, dodging cows and chores to the best of his ability. As a young reader he loved Mary Poppins and Dr. Dolittle, and still has fond memories of rising ahead of the rest of his family so he could huddle in a chair and read THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE. He also read lots of things that people consider junk (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and zillions of comic books). His only real regret is the time he spent watching television, when he could have been reading instead. (A mind is a terrible thing to waste!)

His first book, THE FOOLISH GIANT, was published in 1978. It was illustrated by his wife, Katherine, whom he had married in 1969. This was followed in 1979 by SARAH'S UNICORN, also illustrated by Katherine. After a long period of working separately, the Covilles began collaborating again with SPACE BRAT and GOBLINS IN THE CASTLE, both published in 1992.

Before getting published Bruce earned his living as a toymaker, a gravedigger, a cookware salesman, an assembly line worker, and finally as an elementary school teacher (second and fourth grades). He left teaching in 1981 to devote himself to becoming a full time writer - though it took another five years to achieve that goal!)

Bruce has published over 100 books, which have appeared in over a dozen countries around the world and sold more than sixteen million copies. Among his most popular titles are MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN, INTO THE LAND OF THE UNICORNS, and THE MONSTER'S RING. In 2001 he founded Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company dedicated to creating unabridged, full cast recordings of the best in children's and young adult literature.

Reviews

[Brent Ecenbarger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most fun of the Space Brat books. It's basically a Star Trek adventure crossed with Planet of the Apes and some Dodgeball sprinkled in. Blork's now the Captain of his own spaceship, and on his first adventure his crew gets warp drived to the Planet of the Dips. The Dips are silly, not too intelligent people, known for their short attention spans and flying enabled by beanie propeller hats. It's also a restricted planet, but restricted so Dips can't leave or others can't visit?

Blork's now got a crew to work with and put in danger. Appus Meko is the one who freaks out, Dr. Pimento creates the inventions, and Moomie Peevik is his best friend (who doesn't have a lot to do in this book). There's also a stowaway, and the always important pets who accompany them. The setting here really lends itself to the excellent illustrations provided by Katharine Coville. The Topless Tower of Timboobia, the Lost Lord of Silliness and the epic skishifruit fight had my boys very interested in the world we were reading about. The references to other science fiction films either worked with my kids ("Old Bebop Kenoobie") or went over their heads and added to the fun setting.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute read. The kids loved it. It's pretty hard not to stumble over all the made up words when reading it aloud, though. :)