LAIKA is the story of planet Earth’s first voyager into space. She was the Russian dog launched into orbit in 1957 aboard the Soviet satellite Sputnik II, only the second such vehicle ever to be launched. Sputniks I and II heralded the space race and the age of information and technology we now live in. How did a small dog get caught up in such a pivotal moment in human history? This book tells her tale, and that of the scientists, engineers, politicians and kennel keepers who helped set her upon this momentous journey…
LAIKA has been continuously in print since it was first published in 2007, when it received numerous international storytelling awards and has been translated into ten foreign language editions. It is widely considered to be a classic of the medium and continues to be a gateway book for those who have never experienced the joy of graphic novels and comics.
YA/all ages
Awards
Eisner Award Winner
YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
NYPL Books for the Teen Age
YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Napoli Comicon Micheluzzi award winner
Le Bourget Festival du Livre Aéronautique winner.
Praise for Laika
“A luminous masterpiece filled with pathos and poignancy.”
“One of the most atmospheric historical graphic novels yet produced.”
“A haunting, sweet biography…. Populated with exhaustively researched, fleshed-out characters who are charming, complex and frustrating.”
“Emotional genuineness that makes this kind treatment of an iconic dog so strong.”
“So damn good… It clawed at my heart and left marks.”
“Abadzis doesn’t just show Laika’s plight. He makes you feel it in the core of your being… Consider Nick Abadzis a name to watch from here on in”
“Abadzis’s tear-inducing and solidly researched graphic novel treatment of Laika’s surpassingly tragic story is a standout, not just for its sympathetic point of view but for its refusal to Disnify or anthropomorphize the undeniably cute dog at its heart… Although the tightly packed and vividly inked panels of Abadzis’s art tell an impressively complex tale… where the dog becomes a pawn in larger political and bureaucratic scheming, Laika’s palpable spirit is what readers will remember.”
“A magnificent work”
“Highly recommended for public and school libraries.”