Meet the Brightstar family!

· Laren is former military and a renowned scientist. Antagonists led by Augustus Troy are creating a despotic galactic empire determined to recruit him by any means necessary.

· Sharra, Laren's bondling, has led a comfortable life that's about to change dramatically.

· Dirck, 17, is not happy about leaving their predictable ordered life on Mira III.

· Creena, 13, is delighted to leave a world that grated against her nature in every possible way, almost as much as her older brother.

· Deven, 5, who loves his family and is happy and optimistic, come what may.

If you enjoyed the movie or TV show "Lost in Space," you'll love this family saga/space opera for all ages. An added bonus that makes it stand out from similar series set in alien worlds is its STEM (science, technology, engineering , math) content, presented in a way that's integral to the plot. Circumstances constantly remove Laren from the family, leaving Creena and Dirck with life-threatening science and engineering problems to solve. The relevance of such knowledge is apparent and provides painless learning along the way.

Kids already interested in science will especially love these books, written by a physicist author who craved this variety of hard science fiction as a child and raised six children of her own.

Science teachers at the middle and high school level have placed these books in their classrooms as extra credit reading. If you're a teacher or homeschooler, note that "The Star Trails Compendium" (available on StarTrailsSaga.com or in print from Amazon) contains chapter by chapter lesson plans and discussion ideas for the entire series to take full advantage of the science content as well as interpersonal situations such as sibling rivalry.

This page-turning adventure begins here and continues throughout the series.