Planet Earth Is Blue

The novel uses the third-person limited omniscient perspective, which provides insight into Nova’s thoughts and feelings—which she can’t verbalize—and enables readers to understand and empathize with her thoughts and feelings. Without a narrator who can report Nova’s unspoken emotions, readers would have to guess at them like the Wests and Nova’s teachers must. Because her responses to stimuli are often dissimilar to those of a neurotypical person, readers would likely misinterpret them, like many characters in the novel do. For example, when Nova realizes that her classmate’s head is tilted to one side, she reaches up to help; however, a teacher misjudges her gesture and “block[s] her hand” (51). It’s clear that Nova meant to help her classmate because the narrator notes that Nova thinks the girl “look[s] uncomfortable.” Similarly, when Francine tells the principal that Nova can’t read and doesn’t know the alphabet, Nova can’t explain that she can read and does know the alphabet. Her frustration prompts her to bite herself, leading Francine to interpret Nova’s behavior as emotional overload. It is, in a way, but not how Francine thinks. Nova isn’t overstimulated; she’s angry at being underestimated.

In addition, the third-person limited omniscient perspective allows for the development of foreshadowing, creating tension and suspense, because Nova has difficulty inferring or predicting future events. She wonders, “What had Bridget been thinking, deciding to run away like that? It was already January 1986, and in August she’d be eighteen. Then Bridget could raise Nova herself, like they’d always planned” (3). The fact that Bridget was so devoted to and protective of Nova suggests that she would never willingly be parted from her. Therefore, she must be somewhere she can’t escape, which casts doubt on the likelihood of Bridget’s return for the Challenger launch. Furthermore, “Nova wonder[s] for the two millionth time where Bridget ha[s] gone and whether she w[ill] keep her promise to return in time to see the first teacher skyrocket into space” (4). Nova’s preoccupation with Bridget’s promise, despite not having seen her since before Christmas and not knowing where she is—a juvenile detention home, another foster home, etc.—hints that Bridget may be somewhere unpleasant; she could even be dead. Additionally, the dramatic irony created by readers’ knowledge that the Challenger explodes, killing everyone onboard—something no one in the book knows—foreshadows Nova’s disappointment, which Bridget’s failure to appear would only increase. Through Nova’s letters, the novel uses a common method of building suspense: a countdown. People often use countdowns to anticipate events that they find exciting. Nova’s habit of counting down via her letters indicates the excitement with which she awaits the Challenger launch, which readers know will ends tragically, and this foreshadows her further disappointment when Bridget doesn’t show up.

However, the novel foreshadows some positive events too, though Nova is so focused on the launch and Bridget’s return that she doesn’t draw conclusions about her future. Though Bridget taught her not to think of their foster homes as “home,” the text gives many indications that the Wests’ house could be. Whereas her last foster family barely had clothes for Nova to wear, Francine and Billy give their own daughter’s toy box to Nova: “[Francine’s] fingers ran over the letters spelling JOANIE ROSE like there was something in the box much more important than toys” (7). The box symbolizes the love and care that the Wests feel for their children, and giving Joanie’s box to Nova implies that they love her in a similar way. Moreover, Francine seems to understand her better than anyone else besides Bridget. When she wants to take Nova clothes shopping, she reassures Nova, saying, “You can pick out whatever’s comfortable. If you want to buy nothing but T-shirts and overalls, that’s fine” (9). Additionally, Nova writes to Bridget, “She talks to me the way people talk to you […] She talks like I am a person” (12). The Wests are trying to learn Nova’s sounds and gestures and never penalize her for making noise, as other families have. Nova writes, “Joanie puts [The Little Prince] on for me every single day and does not get mad when it makes me so happy I jump on the couch and squeak and flap” (13). These differences signal the Wests’ commitment to Nova’s well-being and genuine desire to understand her. Despite Bridget’s warnings, this suggests that Nova may have found a real home.

Several key themes begin to emerge in these chapters. The novel introduces one of these themes, The Personal Impact of Historic Events, by highlighting Nova and Bridget’s impassioned response to learning about New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe’s inclusion in the Challenger space mission. Nova counts down the days until she sees her sister but also counts down the days until McAuliffe will get “to see [the moon and stars] for real” (33). When NASA announced McAuliffe as the winner of the First Teacher in Space contest on Nova’s 12th birthday, Bridget told her that it was “fate,” as though McAuliffe and the girls are connected in some cosmic way. Nova writes, “All those teachers, […] and NASA picked one from our New Hampshire!” (57). McAuliffe, they believe, will live the dream that Bridget and Nova imagined when they pretended to go into space, a dream that now seems within reach for two girls from New Hampshire.

Additionally, Nova’s experiences introduce The Challenges of Being Neurodivergent in Adolescence as a central theme. She feels misunderstood and underestimated because adults often describe her as “[s]everely mentally retarded” and say that she can’t read or communicate (4). Furthermore, she’s highly sensitive to sounds and smells, which sometimes makes it hard for her to focus. However, when she feels understood or allowed to be herself, it brings her great joy. She writes to Bridget, “I laughed today and [Francine] did not yell ‘Stop making that weird noise!’ like our last foster mother” (12). In addition, Nova experiences profound happiness when she accomplishes things unexpectedly, such as when she reads the sign in her classroom: “Nova felt excited, so excited she had to happy-flap her hands and squeak. She’d just read that sign all by herself, every single word!” (29). Though her frustrations and emotional overload can be extreme, causing her to hit herself and others, her delight is just as intense.

Finally, Nova and Bridget’s response to their many homes introduces a third major theme: Coping Strategies of Children in Foster Care. In their last home, for example, “There was no privacy for Bridget, who liked her space, and there was no room for hand flapping or bouncing, which Nova liked to do while pretending she was in space” (1). That home presented challenges, such as strict rules and tight spaces, “[b]ut there had been hot oatmeal in the mornings. Cold lemonade with lunch. Warm blankets at night. Nobody yelled bad words or spanked them. Nobody made Bridget scrub floors like Cinderella” (1-2). Nova valued this, though her appreciation of oatmeal, nonviolence, and freedom from manual labor highlights the precarious nature of her prior foster care experiences. For seven years, Bridget took care of her little sister, a child with significant developmental challenges. She created Nova’s safe space, and together the girls survived foster care. After losing their mother, they went from home to home, had few things to call their own, and had few people to count on.