Rover and Speck: Splash Down!

In Rover and Speck: Splash Down!, the second book in the “Rover and Speck” junior graphic novel series, the first being Rover and Speck: This Planet Rocks!, the titular robot characters once again explore a foreign planet, this time Planet K2-18b. After Speck overcomes his fear of “small, dark, scary” places, the two board their launch tubes and are shuttled down to the planet. Unlike the previous world the two explored, a world which was almost entirely made of rock, this planet is a “water world”, and the two land on their own flotation devices. While Rover’s is a practical raft, Speck’s is a large unwieldy beach ball-like object that causes Speck to quickly lose his balance and land underwater. Speck “disengages” his raft (i.e. by popping it) and joins Rover in his more modest flotation device where they begin scanning the planet for life forms.

Rover’s sensors pick up a large life form ahead, and the two land on what appears at first to be an island. Suddenly, Rover and Speck realize that the “island” they have landed on is, in fact, the top of a large and hostile sea creature that angrily attempts to swallow them. Using Speck’s propeller, the two narrowly escape, fleeing to an actual island with very few life form readings. Despite Speck’s misgivings about small dark scary places, the two take shelter in a cave on the island. Rover’s light function illuminates the cave, introducing the two to a small spiky creature that identifies itself as a “spikey spike”. The Spikey Spikes (Stickle and Ickle) tell the explorers about the loss of their brother to the same “Beast” that nearly ate Rover and Speck. The Spikes are nervous to venture towards the sea, a place where they normally eat prickle-plants, as their brother was swallowed “in one big gulp” by the beast there. Rover points out that, if indeed their brother was consumed in one big gulp, then he (humorously named Ted rather than Tickle as Speck guesses) may still be alive inside the Beast’s belly.

With Speck hesitantly joining along, Rover courageously offers to venture inside the blubber beast to find and rescue Ted. The Beast swallows the two explorers, and they head down his slide-like throat until they hit the stomach, eventually finding Ted trapped inside one of the creature’s blowholes used for getting rid of excess water. The irritation of Ted’s being freed and moving around inside the blowhole triggers the creature’s water evacuation reflex, shooting both Speck and Ted into the air. The two are snapped up by a bird that luckily dislikes their taste and deposits them back on the island where Ted is reunited with his family. Just as the four start thinking about how to rescue Rover from inside the blubber beast, the beast begins charging the island again, only to open its mouth and reveal Rover inside. Rover reveals that the beast is in distress as the prickle-plants it ate are lodged between its teeth and are harming its gums and causing it to react aggressively. After some convincing, the Spikes agree to help the Beast clean the plants from its gums as the Beast is not interested in eating either spikes or prickle plants and the Spikes’ diet is entirely prickle plant-based (demonstrating a symbiotic relationship). The explorers say their goodbyes to the spikes and the beast and return to their craft to explore new and dangerous horizons another day.

Jonathan Roth’s approachable dialogue and friendly illustrations break down scientific concepts into easily comprehensible and engaging plot points for younger readers. Each chapter begins with a short science fact related to the plot, often with a short comic strip featuring the main characters demonstrating the core concepts involved. Following the story, Roth also provides a space travel mad libs sheet, a “spot the difference” style game and finally a two-page spread featuring sea creature drawing instructions. Rover and Speck’s odd couple style relationship continues to provide a comforting center point in plots concerning exploration and often danger, thereby allowing child readers characters to root for and learn from.