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Seventh Grade vs. the Galaxy

Joshua S. Levy (Goodreads Author)

4.27 · Rating details · 138 ratings · 60 reviews

PSS 118 is just your typical school--except that it's a rickety old spaceship orbiting Jupiter. When the school is mysteriously attacked, thirteen-year-old Jack receives a cryptic message from his father (the school's recently-fired-for-tinkering-with-the-ship science teacher). Amidst the chaos, Jack discovers that his dad has built humanity's first light-speed engine--and ...more

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Hardcover, 288 pages

Published March 5th 2019 by Carolrhoda Books (R)

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YA Novels 2019 - Teen Content, Teen characters (Check the comments)

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Average rating 4.27 ·

Rating details

· 138 ratings · 60 reviews

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Nov 07, 2018 Sofiya Pasternack rated it it was amazing

Shelves: novel19s

What I Liked
The setting was great! Believable and fun, the near-ish future-humanity society that's been set up is easy to fall into. There is fun tech--holographic wallpaper, 3D printer pens, sassy robots--alongside very relatable modern-day teen struggles. The main characters are a great foursome! (I have included Doctor Shrew, the hamster, as a main character, because frankly the entire adventure would have frizzled to a halt without him.)

What I Would Have Liked to See
Nothing much to request! ...more

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Feb 17, 2019 Gail Shepherd rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade, debut19, comic, sci-fi

There’s a laugh on every page of Joshua Levy’s delightful debut sci-fi novel for middle graders, and quite a few tongue-in-cheek critiques of our contemporary culture. Although the story is set in the distant future, seventh grade hasn’t changed much in spirit, except for a few (sort-of) high-tech gadgets and games of zero-gravity dodgeball. The school-on-a-spaceship, PSS118, may be in orbit around Ganymede, but it’s still recognizably run down and supply-deprived; the teachers are just as crank ...more

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Nov 23, 2018 Em Jay rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

This was so much fun!!!

Levy's book details the adventures of Jack, Ari, and Becka after they accidentally transport their schoolship into a hostile alien galaxy. And yes, it's just as awesome as it sounds.

The voice was perhaps my favourite element of this book; it's funny, clever, and totally organic. The characters themselves are so loveable and distinct, with a great dynamic (although I think the ship itself was my favourite?) And each page absolutely bursts with imagination: gum-chewing ali ...more

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Dec 03, 2018 Naomi Milliner rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade-science-fiction

What a wild and crazy ride! Levy has taken sci-fi tropes and turned them on their heads. The year is 2299, and three well-developed tweens (Jack, Ari and Becca) have to save their outer space school! The fabulous concept is as fun as it is creative. Levy's imagination has no bounds. My personal favorite character is Dr. Shrew, a hamster who plays an unexpected part in the story. There are so many twists and laugh out loud moments - but also some very real and honest emotions as the three leads e ...more

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Apr 30, 2019 Steve Tetreault rated it really liked it

Shelves: middle-grades, science-fiction, series, action-adventure

What it's about: Jack is about to graduate seventh grade. That means finally getting to leave the broken down spaceship he's been going to school on for the past three years. It also means a chance to see his father, who was thrown off the ship for experimenting on its engines without permission. But right as the students are getting ready to leave for the summer, things get really strange. Jack, along with friend Ari and enemy Becka, find themselves lost in space, surrounded by possibly hostile What it's about: Jack is about to graduate seventh grade. That means finally getting to leave the broken down spaceship he's been going to school on for the past three years. It also means a chance to see his father, who was thrown off the ship for experimenting on its engines without permission. But right as the students are getting ready to leave for the summer, things get really strange. Jack, along with friend Ari and enemy Becka, find themselves lost in space, surrounded by possibly hostile aliens, and trying to figure out how to save their classmates and get back home. Summer vacation is not going as planned...

What I thought: This was a fun middle grades book. The protagonist starts out pretty self-centered, but as the story progresses, is able to see his actions and behaviors as being less-than-wonderful, and he learns from them.

The future world imagined by Levy feels just different enough to come across as believable, without being so different that it requires readers to completely reconceptualize their understanding of how the world works. There is a great moment where Jack complains that the future isn't what he thought it would be - because to him, flying around the Jovian moon Ganymede on a spaceship to attend middle school is just par for the course. But even in this future, there are schools that are better and worse, and readers are probably going to be able to empathize with Jack and his classmates when they discuss other schools that think they're so much better than PSS (Public School Spaceship) 118.

Why I rated it like I did: The story was quite entertaining, particularly as it got closer to the climax and resolution. I found myself staying up late to see how everything would turn out!

This is clearly meant to be the first book of a series. Sometimes, a series book will leave a major unresolved cliffhanger to try to drive the audience to the next book for the resolution. Levy has crafted an ending that, while leaving the door wide open to sequels, still feels solid and satisfying.
...more

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Jan 02, 2019 Gillian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kids, 2019, middle-grade-science-fiction

Do you know any fans of Percy Jackson or Star Wars? If so then please put SEVENTH GRADE VS. THE GALAXY in their hands, and they will love you forever.

Hilarious and hard to put down, this story is action packed with strong friendship themes. Jack is a lovable, honest main character. I started rooting for him on page 1 and never stopped!

I don’t want to spoil any of the fun details and world building that make this book so memorable, but know there are a ton of awesome, quirky characters. There a ...more

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Dec 29, 2018 Chris Baron rated it it was amazing

Wow-SEVENTH GRADE VS THE GALAXY is full of so many amazing and fun sci-fi references that I had to read it twice to catch them all. Sharply crafted and full of wit, this book is an adventure!

As someone who attended P.S. 6 in real life, I immediately connected with the heroes of SEVENTH GRADE VS THE GALAXY who go to P.S. 118. A starship (okay--maybe a little different) that plays a crucial role in this wild and futurist ride about friendship, family dynamics, future tech, alien invasions, arcades ...more

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Nov 26, 2018 Koeur rated it liked it · review of another edition

Publishing Date: March 2019

Publisher: Lerner

ISBN:9781541528109

Genre: SciFi/YA

Rating: 3.0/5

Publisher’s Description: PSS 118 is just your typical school—except that it’s a rickety old spaceship orbiting Jupiter. When the school is mysteriously attacked, thirteen-year-old Jack receives a cryptic message from his father (the school’s recently-fired-for-tinkering-with-the-ship science teacher). Amidst the chaos, Jack discovers that his dad has built humanity’s first light-speed engine—and given Jack ...more

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Nov 27, 2018 Liz Friend rated it liked it

Shelves: action-adventure, science-fiction

The story: Jack's dad has secretly installed a faster-than-light drive on PSS (Public Space School) 118. When the school is attacked, the kids find themselves traveling faster than light and ending up 400 light years away. The good news? They got away from their attacker--for the moment. The bad news? They still give parking tickets in this part of the galaxy.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity, G; Substance abuse G; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; ad ...more

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Dec 27, 2018 Rajani LaRocca rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade-science-fiction

I was incredibly lucky to read an advance copy of this book prior to publication. Sure, it's a rollicking space-adventure featuring P.S.S. 118, a broken-down middle school spaceship orbiting Jupiter's moon Ganymeade. Sure, it features 3 funny 7th grade protagonists -- Jack, Ari, and Becka -- who have to save their school and all the people in it for space-tastrophies. Sure, the details and the writing are pitch-perfect hilarious middle grade voice. But what surprised me about this book is how it ...more

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Feb 03, 2019 Michelle rated it really liked it

Seventh Grade Vs. The Galaxy by Joshua S. Levy
Available March 5, 2019 from Lerner Publishing Group

Jack is your typical seventh grader except that his school is anything by typical. Jack attends PSS 118, a middle school that is currently orbiting Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. That’s right-middle school in space!
What could possibly go wrong when you put several hundred middle school aged children on a ship in space? Just the ship suddenly launching into light speed and being attacked by mysterio Seventh Grade Vs. The Galaxy by Joshua S. Levy
Available March 5, 2019 from Lerner Publishing Group

Jack is your typical seventh grader except that his school is anything by typical. Jack attends PSS 118, a middle school that is currently orbiting Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. That’s right-middle school in space!
What could possibly go wrong when you put several hundred middle school aged children on a ship in space? Just the ship suddenly launching into light speed and being attacked by mysterious aliens who are intent on brainwashing all the students and placing them in prison.
Are all of the highly dedicated and highly trained teachers going to save the day? Of course not! This is a middle grade science fiction adventure-the kids are going to save the day!
Jack’s dad was the science teacher on board the ship until he was caught making modifications to the ship’s engines without permission. With the ship under attack, Jack discovers that those engine modifications weren’t the only thing that Jack’s dad altered. He also gave Jack special access to the computers in case of emergency. It’s with this new discovery, and the help of his amazing friends, that Jack will try to save his classmates and teachers from the evil Minister.
This book was a lot of fun-there’s tons of action, snarky attitude, friendship drama, and crabby lunch lady robots. I found Jack to be a very relatable character. He has a mom who left the family, is being bullied at school because of a mistake his father made, and is trying to find his place in the world. All of this stress has placed a strain on his friendships with Ari and Becka and their relationships are tested over and over.
There is a lot that goes on this book that will interest young readers. There’s time travel, alien shopping malls, and even an alien arcade. I really enjoyed the crabby lunch lady robots and their constant complaints about working conditions.

Full disclosure time: I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you to Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this title. ...more

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Jun 08, 2020 Andrew rated it liked it

Seventh Grade VS. The Galaxy Book Review

Even though the book idea and plot were a bit childish, the execution of the writing was good, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting book.

One thing that the author did well wrote out the thoughts and feelings of the characters, and I connected with some characters and how they felt at certain points. I like the concept of the book and how it played out, because there was a lot of suspense and action throughout the whole story, making it more engagin ...more

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Jan 13, 2019 Ms. Yingling rated it really liked it

E ARC from Edelweiss Plus

It's the last day of school for PSS 118, a space ship school orbiting Jupiter. Because of living conditions on the planet, it's cheaper to have school on a space ship, and even then, it's a rather run down place. Jack is glad for the year to be done, since his father, a science teacher at the school, was fired a few months back for ostensibly sabotaging the engines. After some epic gravity free dodge ball games, Jack and his friend Ari are suffering through the principal E ARC from Edelweiss Plus

It's the last day of school for PSS 118, a space ship school orbiting Jupiter. Because of living conditions on the planet, it's cheaper to have school on a space ship, and even then, it's a rather run down place. Jack is glad for the year to be done, since his father, a science teacher at the school, was fired a few months back for ostensibly sabotaging the engines. After some epic gravity free dodge ball games, Jack and his friend Ari are suffering through the principal's end of year speech when all of the power goes out in the ship. No phones, no lights, nothing. Nothing, except for a bunch of texts from Jack's father directing him to go to the engine room. Jack thinks it is a bad idea, but Ari encourages him. They are joined by Becka, a tall, super-good athlete on whom Ari has an enormous crush. The three are making some headway on fixing things (using Ari's modified nanobot producing PENCIL), but when they go back to the bridge, everyone is gone. Their ship has been captured by the Minister of the Elvid System for a parking violation, and since they are unable to pay the fine, the entire school is imprisoned. Seeing no other way out, Jack and his friends trick their guard into thinking they have a highly contagious disease, the medicine for which is located on their impounded ship. He takes them there, but they manage to take the ship, with plans to perhaps head to Earth to get help. Of course, things don't go smoothly-- the need to get more fuel, have trouble at intergalactic customs, get sidetracked by alien video games, and end up back with their school mates to seek more help in righting the situation. There is still work to be done, but the students and faculty of PSS 118 plan to work together to solve their situation.

Strengths: A lot of good things going on here. The beginning of the books was SNAPPY. It just clicked right along, with the dodgeball game and then the power outage, and then fixing the engine and running into Becka, then the other students disappearing. Whew. Talk about a great start to get readers halfway through the book! The number one complaint my students have baout books is that "nothing happens". This cannot be said of this book! I really enjoyed the three main characters, and appreciated that the father was disgraced but still responsible and keeping tabs on Jack. I also really liked the school staff, the brief bit that we saw of them, and am hoping they are more involved in the sequel. The principal was a bit bumbling but pulled through, and there was a scene where the staff are described as circling the students protectively that was really touching. The adventure made sense, the world building was strong, and the end left me wanting to know more!

Weaknesses: The pace slowed down in the middle a bit, when they were looking for fuel and hanging around. Sure, Ari wanted to play alien video games, but this is not the time!

What I really think: Definitely purchasing and will be glad to have this for the fans of space adventure books like Fry's Jupiter Pirates, McDougall's Mars Evacuees, Kraatz's Space Runners, Emerson's Last Day on Mars, and King's Incredible Space Raiders from Space.

...more

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Nov 29, 2018 Jessica rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 02, 2019 Trisha Perry rated it it was amazing

PS 118 is your typical school, in the future, except it is a bit run down. But it is still the school of Jupiter's orbit, at least until it gets attacked, than all the weird and strangeness happens, and it is somehow left to three of the students to try and make everything right. This book is set at warp speed and never slows down I think Mr. Levy has a great book and I can not wait to see what happens in the next book. ...more

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Jan 04, 2019 Remy Lai rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mg-scifi

WHAT A FUN BOOK!

This book is hilarious and action packed. I can't help but laugh everytime (view spoiler) come up.

Middle grade readers will definitely eat this up! ...more

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Jun 11, 2019 Hoover Public Library Kids and Teens rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure, humor, mystery, science-fiction, childrens-books

Seventh-grade buddies Jack and Ari, along with the class bully T-Bex (Becka), are all that stand between their space-station school (P.S.S. 118) and the galaxy-controlling Elvidian Minister's brand of punishment for Jack's dad's tinkering with forbidden science. ...more

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Jan 29, 2019 Niki rated it it was amazing

This books was fantastically zany and laugh out loud funny, but also carried the important message that kids can do important and amazing things.

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Jan 28, 2019 Hannah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade, 2019-reads

I loved Levy’s debut! Highly recommended for middle grade readers looking for high stakes adventure and accessible science fiction. I’m eagerly anticipating the sequel!

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Dec 07, 2018 Leah rated it really liked it

This week I read Seventh Grade vs. the Galaxy by Joshua Levy. I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was also really fun but had a very different tone from the other space book that I read this week.

"PSS 118 is just your typical school--except that it's a rickety old spaceship orbiting Jupiter. When the school is mysteriously attacked, thirteen-year-old Jack receives a cryptic message from his father (the school's recently-fired-for-tinkering-with-the-sh ...more

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Dec 23, 2018 Malayna Evans rated it it was amazing

Hold onto your spaceships ... this one flings you through a galaxy of fun. The characters are pitch perfect middle graders facing a not so typical challenge with nothing but their wits, friendship and a handy hamster! Tons of things to love about this book but the humor and voice is my absolute fave. Loved it!

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Dec 12, 2018 Katie Zhao rated it it was amazing

This book had me laughing (out LOUD, like for real!) from the very first paragraph. I can't remember the last time a middle grade novel had me laughing that much, except when I read the PERCY JACKSON series the first time (and that's, like, my all-time favorite series). And I thoroughly enjoyed myself for the rest of this zany outerspace journey!

In SEVENTH GRADE VS. THE GALAXY, a trio of friends (a little bit remniscent of the infamous Golden Trio from HARRY POTTER), must navigate through the g ...more

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Jun 04, 2019 Orly rated it liked it

This was an enjoyable middle grade book. It is setting itself up for a series, and so while I wasn’t thrilled with how it concluded, I will probably stick with the next book to see what happens.

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May 16, 2019 Chloe⛅ rated it it was amazing

This book was just so unbelievably fun! As a lover of Percy Jackson and Star Wars, I felt like this was totally the best book for me! The humour was very reminiscent of Percy Jackson and I was laughing in every single chapter at these three characters that shouldn’t work well together but do! And come on, the hamster🐹!

Seventh Grade vs The Galaxy is a high speed sci-fi that does have some pretty high stakes, considering everyone the characters know from school have been captured and in-prisoned! ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Quinn Sosna-Spear marked it as to-read

A laugh-out-loud space adventure that will prepare your reader to become lifelong sci-fi fans. If Louis Sachar decided to take a stab at writing Star Wars, I'd like to think SEVENTH GRADE VS. THE GALAXY would be the result. This would be a perfect read for sci-fi fans or reluctant readers. ...more

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Jan 07, 2019 Jess Redman rated it it was amazing

I loved this fast-paced, zany, witty and wonderful MG sci-fi book so much! Full review to come soon.

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Nov 05, 2019 Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* rated it it was amazing

Shelves: elementary, middle-school, essential

Seventh Grade Vs. The Galaxy by Joshua Levy. 282 pages, Carolrhoda Books (Lerner), 2019 $18 Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Jack goes to school on a spaceship called PSS 118. It orbits one of Jupiters Moons, Ganymede. Its sounds cooler than it is, in truth it’s run down and not well run either. After the ship is mysteriously attacked, Jack and his best friend Ari, and Ari’s crush Becka, discover that the ship is capable of light ...more

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Feb 22, 2019 CR rated it really liked it

My Review: This was a very fun book that my son loved. He had a fun time with the characters and the ship. And he said it was just the right amount of over the top. I could hear him laughing at times (sometimes when he was supposed to be sleeping) but that was ok since he was reading and still got up for school. This is going to be one of those books that you have to pry out of your kid's hands to get them to go to bed.

He said that he loved the humor and explanation of what is going on. I know ...more

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Mar 03, 2019 Aoife rated it really liked it

Shelves: nyp, a2, a3e, mar, 2019, carolrhoda-books

Leon's year in school started out well, but when it was discovered that his father had been meddling where he shouldn't have been, he was fired from the school and Leon was left adrift. It's almost the summer holidays and Leon is looking forward to some time away from everyone and their pitying looks.

But during the end of year assembly the school comes under attack. Leon and his friends find a hidden defense mechanism left by his father. When they activate it, they end up far across the galaxy u ...more

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Apr 19, 2019 Jessica rated it it was amazing

This book was SO much fun! I would have absolutely adored it as a kid--exactly the kind of thing I would have snatched up and gobbled in a single sitting. As an adult, I adored it too, appreciating the fluid writing and frequent nods to famous sci-fi films and books. Levy's sarcasm is fantastic--such a clear, carefully developed voice.

The characters are not only lovable and diverse, but they have heart. Jack, the protagonist, must make several difficult choices while also dealing with complicate ...more

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About Joshua S. Levy

Joshua S. Levy

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Joshua S. Levy was born and raised in Florida. After teaching middle school (yes, including seventh grade) for a little while, he went to law school. He lives with his wife and children in New Jersey, where he practices as a lawyer. Unfortunately, outer space doesn’t come up in court nearly as often as he’d like. Seventh Grade Vs. The Galaxy is his first novel.