Nyxia
Written by Scott Reintgen

Publisher’s Summary:
Emmett accepts an interstellar space contract but learns en route that to win the promised fortune he and nine other recruits face a brutal competition, putting their very humanity at risk.

Primary Source Pairing:
Nyxia is a story about believing in yourself and standing up for what you know is right. Nyxia is also a story about a world beyond imagination in outer space and on a different planet. Author Scott Reintgen’s ability to immerse the reader into this setting is phenomenal. His descriptions of space travel and interplanetary relations may be fiction, but humans on Earth are continually searching for life beyond our own galaxy. For this primary source pairing, invite students to look back to the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969 and reflect on what has happened in space travel over these past 50 years. Additionally, invite students to read a Barron’s article titled “Future Returns: How to Invest in Space Travel and Technologies” and make predictions about what will happen next in the expansion of space travel. Use textual evidence from Emmett’s experiences in Nyxia to support predictions.

Questions for Discussion:

• What do you notice first?
• What people and objects are shown?
• How are they arranged?
• What is the physical setting?
• What’s happening in the image?
• What tools were used to create this?
• How does this image connect to Emmett’s experiences in Nyxia?
• How is this image different from Emmett’s experiences in Nyxia?

Credits:
Book Cover and Summary: Follett
Apollo 11 Moon Landing: NASA.gov
“Future Returns: How to Invest in Space Travel and Technologies”: Barron’s