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A candy-powered space adventure for ages 4–9

Charlie's Colorful Outer Space Candy Adventure

Name: Charlie's Colorful Outer Space Candy Adventure
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)
Author: Scott Cornfoot

Charlie has waited ages, and ever, and ages-ever for her trip to Galaxies Candy. She has a plan: four ounces of one thing, four ounces of another, and maaayyybe a lollipop. What she doesn't have a plan for is a boy named Niles, and his invisible alien friend.

48-page picture book · Ages 4–9 · Paperback, hardcover and ebook
Written by Scott Cornfoot · Illustrated by Antonio Pahetti · FriesenPress

Buy the book Look inside

The story

The candy is not the adventure. The friend is.

Galaxies Candy is everything Charlie hoped: lollipops growing on trees, candy castles with staircases, jellybeans pouring from the ceiling through the most amazing tubes. Charlie just wants to choose her candy in peace, carefully, the way she likes to do things. Instead, candy starts vanishing into thin air, the store erupts in a whirligig of crashing and bashing, and a grinning boy named Niles pulls her behind a display with five words that change her whole day: "I'm Niles, and this is Altair."

Altair is an alien. Altair is invisible. And Altair's broken-down spaceship runs on candy, if only someone could work out exactly which piece goes where. Niles has enthusiasm. What the rescue needs is a planner.

Spaceship. Aliens. This was a real adventure!

Charlie examines the spaceship the way she examines everything: carefully. Where Niles sees a pile of broken parts, Charlie sees a pattern. The alien may be invisible, but the solution is sitting all around them.

Look inside

Step inside Galaxies Candy

Illustrated by Antonio Pahetti

Charlie and her dad arrive at Galaxies Candy — Finally, Galaxies Candy!

Inside the enormous candy store — Lollipop trees, candy castles, and the most amazing tubes.

Charlie meets Niles and Altair the alien — "I'm Niles, and this is Altair."

The candy-powered spaceship — The spaceship was amazing.

What readers are saying

Five stars from the toughest critics

★★★★★

"Wonderful book! So creative and colourful! Your child will fall in love with Charlie and her amazing adventures! My grandson loves it. Looking forward to seeing what this author comes up with next!"

Janette Antle · Amazon.ca verified purchase

Meet the crew

One planner. One whirlwind. One stowaway.

Charlie

Has a plan, likes her candy chosen carefully and her adventures not at all, until now. The kind of kid who measures four ounces of one thing and four of another. The spaceship doesn't stand a chance of staying broken.

Niles

Grabs handfuls of everything, whispers "over here!", and will absolutely keep your secret. The candy is not for him. Mostly. It is fuel for his invisible alien friend.

Altair

Invisible (mostly), polka-dotted (when visible), homesick (always). His spaceship runs on candy and it is broken in a candy store, which is either very good luck or very bad luck.

Why this book exists

A neurodiversity-affirming adventure

Charlie likes plans. She notices patterns other people miss, finds crowded places overwhelming, and feels safest when she knows what comes next. The story never gives her a diagnosis. It simply lets her become the hero because of the way she sees the world.

Charlie is a neurodivergent-coded character whose careful planning, pattern recognition and sensitivity to busy environments become essential strengths in the story, and the book leaves room for children with different experiences to recognize themselves in her. For parents and educators, it is a gentle way to begin conversations about neurodiversity, inclusion, sensory overwhelm, friendship, and the different strengths children bring to a problem.

Charlie, Scott Cornfoot's dog, from the book's dedication page

The dedication

"For Charlie, my soulmate."

Before Charlie was a girl in a candy store, Charlie was Scott's dog: a shaggy, patient, world-class listener. The real Charlie appears in photographs at the beginning of the book. Some characters are invented. Some are named after the best friend you ever had.

For grown-ups

Written by a teacher who reads aloud for a living.

Scott Cornfoot has taught Grade 2 in Ontario for almost twenty years. Before teaching, he performed for children and families around the world with Disney On Ice, so he knows what holds a young audience. This book was built the way his read-alouds are: language with rhythm and bounce, illustrations filled with details that reward a second look, and a hero whose careful way of moving through the world is treated as her superpower.

Charlie likes order, needs a plan, and sometimes finds busy places difficult to manage. The book never labels her. It simply lets her solve the problem because of the way she notices patterns, plans carefully, and sees what others miss. Kids who see themselves in her are told, quietly: you're the hero type.

Talk about it after

Three questions after the story

Charlie and Niles want candy for totally different reasons. Whose reason is more like yours?
Charlie almost didn't talk to Niles because he seemed strange. What would have happened if she hadn't?
If you built a spaceship powered by candy, which piece would be the engine? What would the other candies do?

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Free activity

Build a candy-powered spaceship

Two free printables for classrooms and kitchen tables. Design your own candy-powered spaceship, choose the parts, invent your alien passenger, and keep a field note like Charlie would. Or print the three colouring sheets: the candy store, the planning session, and the run through the candy planet. Every part needs a reason; every candy needs a colour.

Build a candy spaceship Colouring pages (3 sheets)

More where those came from

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Get the book

Bring Charlie home

Available in paperback, hardcover and ebook.

Buy from the publisher Buy on Amazon Buy at Indigo

Published May 2024 by FriesenPress · 48 pages · Ages 4–9
Paperback ISBN 978-1-03-830205-2 · Hardcover ISBN 978-1-03-830206-9 · Ebook ISBN 978-1-03-830207-6

Charlie grows up

The girl from the candy store is just getting started.

Years after Galaxies Candy, Charlie wins a scholarship to a very unusual school, Niles is still her best friend, and something in the vice principal's office is humming. Chronos, Scott's middle-grade novel, picks up the story. It is a complete manuscript currently seeking representation, so you cannot buy it yet, but you can read all about it.

Visit the Chronos page