A taste of poisoned soup spurs the Queen of the Moon and her feline companion into embarking on a quest for a curative fruit from the orbiting orb's only golden glumpfoozle tree.In further exploits attended by the monosyllabic, spacesuit-clad titular feline ("Meow"), Harris and Barnett bring back the cast of The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza (2022), from diaper-wearing buccaneer Captain Babybeard to computerized toenail clipper LOZ 4000, for a lunar ramble past a pair of mysterious killbots, Psychic Flying Eyeballs of Death, and other hazards. Depicted in rolling arrays of changing palettes and panel sizes and led by the opalescent Queen of the Moon-who, ignoring her loudly rumbling tummy, stoutly declares that "my reign will not be cut short by soup"-the expedition fetches up at last on the edge of a bottomless crater for a last-minute save, appropriately over-the-top grandstanding by a familiar AI with futile protagonistic ambitions ("How many pages did I get this time? 73?"), and a closing celebratory soupfest, depicted Last Supper–style by a vermiform da Vinci. This volume continues the nonstop madcap fun; returning readers will not be disappointed, and new ones will quickly become avid followers of the world's first feline astronaut.Fans of unbridled, melodramatic tomfoolery will be over the moon. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)

Gr 3–5— A failed set of assassination attempts on the Moon Queen—first by serving her poisoned soup, then by a knife attack carried out by an assassin disguised as a chef—send her and her close friend First Cat on a mission to find an antidote and determine who was behind it all. After an unsuccessful attempt to reconnect with their long-missing friend LOZ 4000, the toenail clipping robot, Moon Queen and First Cat pay a visit to a wizard who reveals the Moon Queen only has 24 hours from the time she tasted the soup to find the antidote before the poison turns her to glass. With 19 hours remaining, Moon Queen and First Cat set out to obtain the antidote, and chaos ensues. In a return to form for this sequel, now entirely set on the moon, many of the features of book one are present once again: artwork that has a simple but sophisticated style in its textured, retro-hued pastel chalk appearance with heavy black line work, variable and angular panels that denote action, footnotes that provide links to real world recordings of music referenced in the story, self-referential jokes that break the fourth wall, and humorously absurd plot twists and red herrings to keep readers on their toes. VERDICT Though not as strong a showing as the first book in terms of laugh-out-loud moments, this sequel still has much to enjoy, and fans will be thrilled to see their favorite characters back in action.— Alea Perez