Space Case

“Everything the movies have ever taught you about space travel is garbage.”

The opening to the novel makes it immediately clear that it will portray space travel differently than other popular media. Stuart Gibbs engaged in significant research before writing Space Case in order to portray life on the moon with more authenticity than other science fiction texts that imagine the lunar landscape. Dash’s narration, too, which is casual and honest, serves as an important and fresh voice as he describes the reality of his experience on Moon Base Alpha. His blunt honesty contrasts in particular with the NASA manual excerpts that appear between each chapter.

“Because I don’t see any point in keeping it a secret anymore.”

When Dash overhears Dr. Holtz’s conversation about revealing a big secret, it launches the most important conflict of the book: Dash believes Dr. Holtz was murdered for his secret, and no one else wants to investigate. By directly hearing the conversation, Dash becomes an important witness, which helps invest him in the process of uncovering what happened to Dr. Holtz.

“Dr. Holtz would never do anything that risky.”

Though he is only 12, Dash Gibson has a strong perspective on the characteristics of the different people he knows. Dash’s assertion to his parents that Dr. Holtz wouldn’t have taken a risk by leaving the lunar air lock reflects Dash’s confidence in his own analysis of people’s personalities.