Planeta Blu: Rise of Agoo by Tem Blessed, illustrated by Michael LaRiccia. Dark Horse Books, 2023. 9781506737287
Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 3
Format: Paperback graphic novel
Genre: Fantasy
What did you like about the book? Lares, her brother Angel, and their two friends, are unexpectedly pulled into an epic adventure to redeem the human race by stopping an oil tycoon from enacting destruction on the world. On the way, they meet characters from different cultures, and learn about creation stories of the world. This book is not just calling for climate activism, but offers history, spirituality, and political consciousness as critiques for the current human path towards mass extinction and climate catastrophe. I liked how clear the messages were, and how they were interwoven with eye-popping full-color art. There were lots of action sequences, balanced with headier sections full of lessons on morality and activism. Characters are mostly Black and Brown youth from New Bedford, MA, including one character from the Ute Nation. The author is Tem Blessed, a socially conscious Hip Hop artist born in Guinea Bissau, West Africa, to Cape Verdean parents. Planeta Agoo is his debut novel.
Anything you didn’t like about it? This is definitely not a book you can easily read in one sitting which is not a bad thing, but some of the wordier sections have huge blocks of text that might be hard for some readers to get through. Especially in the beginning, there is a long section of text without much action that I had a hard time getting through, but it served the purpose of setting up the plot and world, so I get why it was there.
To whom would you recommend this book? Advanced middle-school readers, and anyone older. Fans of superhero comic books interested in seeing reading something more substantive should give it a try.
Who should buy this book? High school libraries
Where would you shelve it? YA or teen graphic
Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No
Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Irene Tournas, library school student, Montague, MA.
Date of review: June 18th, 2024
Youth Services Book Review 
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