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Stowaway
By Mary Eisenhart,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Tween and space pirates face perils in fast-moving epic.
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What's the Story?
It's the late 21st century as young Leo Fender becomes a STOWAWAY on the vessel of the space pirates who've just arrived to rob the Beagle, a research ship on which Leo's father has forced him and his brother to flee an increasingly polluted, dystopian Earth. Only they're a little late, because the ship has already been stripped of all its fuel and supplies and cast adrift by the Djarik, a lizard-like spacefaring race whose bombardment of Earth has already killed Leo's mom and countless others. They've also kidnapped Leo's astrophysicist dad, and Leo's brother thinks their best chance of getting help from their allies is to stuff him into the pirates' cargo hatch and hope for the best. He's soon discovered. The pirates aren't sure what to do with him. Very little goes as planned, and Leo's soon caught up in the doings of a dubious crew of two humans, a gigantic ox-headed alien, and a snarky robot as they try to come out ahead of even more dubious and dangerous characters -- and maybe find Leo's dad?
Is It Any Good?
This fast-moving, emotionally complex, plot-twisting space epic will bring howls of anguished suspense, as its cliffhanger ending will have you on the edge of your seat for some time. There's a lot to like in this tale of young Leo Fender (no apparent relation to the guitar genius), an asthmatic, anxious tween in the late 21st century, who finds himself a Stowaway on an intergalactic pirate ship trying to save his family and Earth itself. Which won't be easy, as the planet is being rapidly strip-mined into toxicity and environmental collapse by a technologically superior alien race -- and being bombarded by yet another alien race who wants the rare mineral for itself. In author John David Anderson's spacefaring dystopia, it's hard to know whom to trust or how to act for the best -- but Leo has to try, and we're right there with him.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories where a character stows away on a ship, plane, etc. How does Stowaway compare to some other stories with this theme that you like? Sometimes it's a desperate move, sometimes it's a quest for adventure, but it tends to be life-changing.
Do you ever have adults telling you everything is/will be fine when you know very well this is not the case? Why do you think they do this? How does it make you feel?
Grief-stricken over his mom's death, Leo gets a lot of comfort from a video of her that's stored on his phone. Do you think technology like this makes it easier to cope with loss?
Book Details
- Author: John David Anderson
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Topics: Adventures , Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Great Boy Role Models , Pirates , Space and Aliens
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Walden Pond Press
- Publication date: August 3, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 384
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks
- Last updated: September 28, 2021
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