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45 pages 1 hour read

Nicole Panteleakos

Planet Earth Is Blue

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Important Quotes

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“She hated trying things on, pants that pushed against her belly and socks that touched her ankles and shirts with itchy tags and dresses—oh, the dresses! Nothing could be worse than something she had to wear tights under. Tights stretched from her waist to her feet and always, always had a seam line across her toes. She hated lines across her toes.”


(Chapter 1, Page 8)

Nova has many sensitivities—to smells, sounds, and textures. She’s averse to stiff fabrics, clingy material, and itchy tags, though she’s particularly bothered by tights because they’re so confining and have seams that cross her toes. While these textures and other sensory inconsistencies may not bother neurotypical people, they’re common triggers among people with autism, helping to present Nova’s disability realistically.

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“She talks to me the way people talk to you. Not too loud and too slow, the way they talk to me. She talks like I am a person.”


(Chapter 1, Page 12)

One of Nova’s most significant irritations is when people speak to her in halting, forceful tones that suggest they believe she’s either hearing impaired or mentally incapable of understanding them unless they speak slowly and enunciate each word; however, she’s neither hearing impaired nor mentally incapable. People constantly underestimate her abilities, largely because she’s mostly nonverbal. One thing that differentiates the Wests from her other foster families is that they speak to her the way people speak to Nova’s neurotypical sister.

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“Only Bridget read to her from chapter books and novels.”


(Chapter 2, Page 20)

Only Bridget has taken the time to learn what Nova can understand. Others read to her from books meant for small children. Since the Wests initially believed what Mrs. Steele told them about Nova’s abilities, they initially read Dr. Seuss to her. Ultimately, she shares her copy of The Little Prince with them, indicating her growing trust in their commitment to understanding her, making them much more like Bridget than any other foster family.

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“She hated not knowing what to expect. She hated new and unfamiliar places.”


(Chapter 2, Page 22)

Nova finds routine and familiarity comforting, another hallmark of people on the autism spectrum. Starting at a new school provokes anxiety in many people, but it arguably affects Nova more intensely because of her sensory sensitivities. The Wests acknowledge this trait and go to significant lengths to make sure that Nova feels as comfortable as possible when beginning at Jefferson Middle School.

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“Mama was not smiling. She was crying. Bridget and Nova closed themselves in the closet, where their rocket ship was.”


(Chapter 3, Page 42)

Bridget often protected Nova from harsh realities, such as the day the social worker came to take them away from their mother. She taught Nova how to use her imagination and engage in pretend play, something that many people believe children with autism can’t do. Imagining herself on an outer-space mission with Bridget helps Nova feel peaceful and safe, while it provided Bridget with a fantasy of escape.

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“Nova found herself drowning in a sea of students.”


(Chapter 3, Page 47)

This metaphor, which compares hallways full of bustling students to a “sea” of bodies, demonstrates how overwhelming Nova finds the noisy mass of students and her feeling of helplessness. The suggestion that she feels like she’s “drowning” emphasizes her sense of powerlessness and fear in this situation.

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“Nova realized that no one but she and Bridget knew NASA Bear’s name, and without Bridget around, it was possible no one else ever would. The thought made her stomach twist painfully into a pretzel.”


(Chapter 3, Page 48)

Nova is mostly nonverbal, and no one besides Bridget can understand her utterances, so Nova feels sad that in her sister’s absence, no one will know NASA Bear’s real name. Because he symbolizes Nova herself, this indicates her fear that another person will never truly know her either. The metaphor comparing her roiling stomach to a twisted pretzel indicates how upsetting this realization is. It also foreshadows how significant Joanie’s understanding is later when she learns NASA Bear’s name after listening closely to Nova.

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“All those teachers, more than I can count, maybe more than there are stars in the sky, and NASA picked one from our New Hampshire! I don’t know why I cried.”


(Chapter 3, Page 57)

Nova’s experience in relating to Christa McAuliffe demonstrates her ability to empathize with others and their experiences. She may not understand why she feels so connected to McAuliffe, but this passage demonstrates her capacity for deep feeling. This is one way that Panteleakos avoids relying on stereotypes in her depiction of Nova’s character.

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“Teachers think I cannot read like how Francine thinks I cannot read but maybe they are the ones who cannot read.”


(Chapter 3, Page 58)

Nova identifies a significant irony: that she’s often misunderstood by adults who consider themselves experts. Teachers believe that she can’t read—so this is what was reported to Francine—and it’s ironic that they’re so wrong about her, given their supposed expertise concerning children with autism. Nova is far more capable than they realize, and they’re significantly less informed than they believe.

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“This was the first time she had really, truly felt like part of the group, just like everybody else […] It felt like being on a roller coaster […] like fluff on a sandwich, confusing but sweet. And it felt like a soft landing on the moon […] guided by Bridget.”


(Chapter 4, Page 62)

When Nova successfully engages in a game in which she must verbalize animal names, she mentally compares the feeling, via similes, to experiences that are more familiar. This indicates her ability to think in figurative ways, finding similarities among physical sensations, tastes, and emotions. She compares the happy feeling to the rush of riding a roller coaster, to marshmallow fluff (which tastes good but has a funny texture), and to a gentle space mission that she safely completes with her sister.

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“‘Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,’ read Francine, ‘and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.’”


(Chapter 4, Page 67)

Francine reads to Nova from Nova’s favorite book, The Little Prince. Bridget often read this book to Nova, and this line is one of Nova’s favorites because it encapsulates her feelings and experiences with adults in her own life. Bridget frequently defended Nova from adults’ claims that she was “retarded” and incapable of understanding, and Nova longs to make adults understand her wants and needs.

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“I’m sorry I kept screaming and crying and would not go back in. I think that maybe means I ruined it for you.”


(Chapter 4, Page 72)

Nova reflects on her past behavior and realizes how it likely made her sister feel. She regrets how her actions affected her sister and recognizes that she had a choice to make and chose selfishly or selflessly in that moment.

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“She knew what a supernova was. She was a Super Nova. Bridget said so. She’d said so on the very first night they were in foster care. And Bridget was never wrong.”


(Chapter 5, Page 76)

Because of the symbolism of the supernova—that it makes a star shine brightly but precedes the star’s death—Nova eventually learns to identify as her namesake rather than as a “Super Nova,” as Bridget called her. She sees that she’s more like a nova because her experiences help her shine brightly and she survives them. In addition, she realizes that Bridget was human and fallible, learning to trust herself as she once trusted her sister.

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“Maybe Nova could not imagine or understand it, but here, in the planetarium, she could feel it. She knew at any moment she would either collapse in on herself too, or explode.”


(Chapter 5, Page 83)

Bridget often called Nova her “Super Nova,” but Nova doesn’t begin to know what a supernova is until Stephanie tells her. She becomes so emotionally overwhelmed by the beautiful sights in the school planetarium that she compares herself to a supernova, a giant explosion on a star that causes its collapse. Nova doesn’t yet understand that a supernova kills a star, but her comparison makes it clear just how intensely she’s affected by what she sees.

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“The home economics teacher ushered them in. Nova liked her right away. She looked like Strega Nona, that old lady from the picture book.”


(Chapter 7, Page 115)

The novel uses an allusion to convey Nova’s thoughts and feelings and demonstrate her ability to make connections across her experiences. Strega Nona is an old Italian woman whose moniker translates to “Grandma Witch,” and she has a magical cooking pot that makes unlimited spaghetti. Thus, it’s appropriate that Nova would connect her home economics instructor, who teaches cooking, to this character, both in appearance and behavior.

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“Even though she’d seen Mrs. Steele every single month for the past five years, she could not help fearing each visit […] so like Peter Pan she tried to ‘think happy thoughts.’”


(Chapter 9, Page 137)

Another allusion refers to Peter Pan, a children’s book character who teaches children to fly by telling them to think happy thoughts. A child can fly only when thinking sufficiently happy thoughts, which suggests how much Nova tries to think positively about her home with the Wests and whatever they’ll tell Mrs. Steele.

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“‘Oh my God, is she choking?’ [Mrs. Steele asked.] ‘That’s her laugh!’ Francine stared at Mrs. Steele. ‘You’ve been her social worker for five years. Haven’t you heard her laugh before?’”


(Chapter 9, Page 146)

The fact that Mrs. Steele can’t identify Nova’s laugh suggests a disturbing possibility. If the social worker hasn’t heard Nova laugh even once in five years, it indicates that Nova has been deeply unhappy for all that time; she has had little to laugh about, and, as one of her caregivers, Mrs. Steele should have been aware of her emotional state.

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“Nova played David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ over and over and over again in her head to block out the angry thoughts, to push away the sight of her standing alone with Earth barely visible in the distance.”


(Chapter 9, Page 148)

The novel often alludes to David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity,” and it acquires associations with the security and comfort that Nova felt with Bridget and feels when she’s pretending to go to space. However, Nova is often consciously aware of only the early parts of the song, in which Ground Control talks to Major Tom, issuing instructions, and when he conducts his spacewalk. She doesn’t really pay attention to the end of the song, in which Ground Control loses contact with Major Tom and he presumably dies. In the text, the lyrics foreshadow the loss of the Challenger astronauts and Nova’s ability to repress memories of events she doesn’t want to recall.

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“Francine said you fell through a crack and I fell through a crack and even Mama fell through a crack and she sounded mad about it. I don’t know what crack she’s talking about.”


(Chapter 9, Page 154)

Like many individuals on the autism spectrum, Nova thinks literally and can struggle with figurative language, such as the idea of someone “falling through a crack” (meaning that they aren’t noticed and thus are allowed to suffer when something could be done to help them). Francine feels that the welfare system failed the Vezinas, repeatedly letting them down, and that this resulted in the girls’ mother’s death, Bridget’s accident, and Nova’s failure to thrive in her previous homes and schools.

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“I never thought about it before, but Major Tom gets lost every time we listen to ‘Space Oddity.’ Ground Control calls him and calls him and he cannot hear them. Every time. I wanted to pay attention […] but I was lost too. I was lost like Major Tom. And you.”


(Chapter 10, Page 170)

Nova’s realization that Major Tom dies is a significant development in her awareness. She finally recognizes the loss of Major Tom when she can’t find Princess Leia, who stands in for Sally Ride, an astronaut and physicist whom Bridget played in the girls’ pretend space missions. Thinking that Leia is gone forever leads Nova to fear that Bridget is gone too, as though the memory of their car accident is coming closer to her consciousness.

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“I am a volcano, about to erupt, but not angry. The lava filling me from my toes to my nose is not angry. It is nervous, happy lava. Excited lava.”


(Chapter 11, Page 191)

Before the Challenger launch, which Nova has awaited for months, she uses a metaphor, comparing herself to a volcano filled with excited lava. This suggests tension and anticipation, though lava is usually considered destructive, even devastating, rather than something positive. This metaphor thus points to her excitement about the shuttle launch—the emotion of which she’s consciously aware, like her fear and anxiety that Bridget won’t appear—because she knows, deep down, that Bridget is gone. The metaphor also suggests that the recollection of Bridget’s death will be catastrophic in significance.

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“Like shooting stars, streaks of smoke rained down from the shuttle toward the earth, bright white against a denim-blue sky. Nova could almost see the cloud of smoke above her head.”


(Chapter 12, Page 195)

When Nova witnesses the Challenger breaking apart, the narrator’s simile compares the smoke trails to lines left by “shooting stars” or meteors as they fall to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. This is another violent image that suggests death. Furthermore, Nova’s feeling that she can almost see the cloud of smoke above her own head connects her personally to the disaster, thematically highlighting The Personal Impact of Historic Events.

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“You were not wearing a seat belt. Your boyfriend was not wearing a seat belt. Only I wore a seat belt.”


(Chapter 12, Page 203)

Nova’s recollection that she wore a seatbelt but Bridget didn’t foreshadows the reveal of the accident that took Bridget’s life. Additionally, it explains why Nova was the sole survivor and indicates that Bridget took better care of her sister than of herself.

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“Sometimes even astronauts cannot reach the stars.”


(Chapter 12, Page 212)

Nova realizes that in real life, people can’t always achieve their dreams. They might have every right or ability to do so, but life is unpredictable, and accidents can happen that take our dreams away. Thus, “stars” symbolize dreams, while “astronauts” signify people who reach for those dreams.

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“Nova carefully made eye contact, first with Francine’s Midnight Blue eyes, next with Billy’s Raw Umber ones.”


(Chapter 13, Page 218)

Nova has usually avoided eye contact, even with Bridget, the person with whom she was the most comfortable. When Francine and Billy ask if they can adopt her, Nova understands the moment’s significance and forces herself to look each of them in the eyes when she consents. The moment symbolizes the progress that Nova has made with the Wests and foreshadows the continuation of her development and learning now that she’s with people she can trust and rely on.

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