| ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. | |
| OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. | |
| NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Parents need to know that there is some cartoonish violence, with science-fictiony weapons that vaporize things, and lots of explosions. Once character is knocked out, and otherwise only non-character aliens are hurt. There is also some mild swearing.
In essays for school and a time-capsule contest, Gratuity Tucci describes her cross-country road trip with a Boov alien she calls J.Lo. The Earth has been invaded, her mother kidnapped, and all Americans are herded into a reservation in Arizona. From there she and J.Lo work to stop yet another invasion by even worse aliens, the Nimrogs, who were inadvertently drawn to Earth by J.Lo.
This is good, silly fun, the kind of story in which the main characters bicker over a walkie-talkie about what to call their plan (Operation: Catastrophe vs. Operation: Piggyback, both puns) even while running and being shot at by marauding alien monsters. And the evil alien monsters love fighting and musical theater, and "fought one another in a three-hundred-year-old civil war that is believed to have started over a parking space." You know, the kind of goofy, off-the-wall humor that many kids think is just hilarious.
Illustrated with a few comic strips (could have used more of those) and other drawings, the book bogs down in places, and would have benefitted from a firmer editorial hand: lopping off about 150 pages would have done the story no harm and done more to hold the interests of the kind of kids who will be drawn to something like this. Still, this will be a popular choice for fans of Terry Pratchett and Larry Gonick, and, with its abundance of strange creatures, whacky scenes, and silly accents and voices, it should make a great read-aloud.
Families can talk about some of the issues the author raises. What are the parallels between what the Boovs do to humans and what Europeans did to Native Americans? Are the Boovs ultimately good or bad? What do you think of the way Americans organized themselves in Arizona? What do you think would really happen if all Americans were shipped to Arizona?
| Author: | Adam Rex |
| Illustrator: | Adam Rex |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Science Fiction |
| Publisher: | Hyperion Books for Children |
| Publication date: | October 9, 2007 |
| Number of pages: | 423 |
| Hardcover price: | $16.99 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 10 - 14 |
| Read aloud: | 9 |
| Read alone: | 10 |