Galaxy High School

by William Sleator

Like Galaxy High School, this traps ordinary Earth kids in an alien scenario where the rules are deliberately strange and the other players have wildly different agendas. Sleator has that same gift for making cosmic absurdity feel genuinely dangerous—there's real stakes underneath the zaniness that keeps you turning pages.

by Norton Juster

Both books share that particular 1980s sensibility where a kid stumbles into a world with its own absurd logic and has to navigate it with humor and wits. Juster's wordplay and conceptual humor—where puns are literal and geography is philosophical—creates that same delightful sense of 'nothing here follows Earth rules, and that's the whole point.'

by Orson Scott Card

This one's from the 1980s too, but it takes the 'young people in an alien institution' premise and goes much darker—the school itself becomes the story's moral center. If you're ready to graduate from Galaxy High's cheerful chaos to something that asks harder questions about what it means to be the outsider in an unfamiliar system, this is your bridge.

by Diana Wynne Jones

A surprise recommendation, but hear me out: Jones writes ensemble casts of misfits navigating impossible situations with the same deadpan humor Hodgman uses. The 'zany collection of characters' dynamic is identical—everyone's got their own bizarre logic, and the plot moves forward through their interactions rather than despite them.

by Trenton Lee Stewart

Published in 2007, this brings Galaxy High's spirit into a more contemporary adventure—a group of gifted misfits recruited for a secret mission, learning to work together despite their differences. Stewart captures that same energy where the characters' quirks aren't obstacles to overcome but the actual reason they're the right team for the job.