Tag Archives: Aliens

The Kid Who Came From Space

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The Kid Who Came From Space by Ross Welford

Book of the Week: 2 February 2020

Cover illustration by Tom Clohosy Cole

When you are hurtling through space with a smelly, hairy alien, a weird kid from school and a chicken named Suzy, you might wonder what has gone wrong with your life. Ethan doesn’t have to wonder too hard, he knows it all went wrong when his twin sister went missing from the village of Kielder, where his mum and dad keep the Stargazer pub. The ensuing panic and grief on the part of the family and close-knit community are almost too much to bear, so Ethan takes a break by going for a walk to the lakeside at the invitation of Ignatius Fox-Templeton who “has a school record that you’d call ‘inconsistent’…”. It is there that they witness a gigantic splash, as if a car has plummeted into the reservoir from a great height. When they investigate the splash and the subsequent humming noise, they see that the water has an indentation as if a giant glass plate is sitting on its surface. Puzzlement changes to terror as a humanoid covered in hair with a huge nose and a tail like a cat, appears as if from nowhere and asks them to help her. Ethan links the humming noise of her spaceship with a noise he heard on the night his sister Tammy disappeared. Can this alien creature help him find his sister or has she got something to do with her disappearance?

If you have enjoyed any of Ross Welford’s other books, you are sure to like this one as it has all his usual warmth and humour. If you haven’t read any of them, you might enjoy this if you liked Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s ‘Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth’, although Hellyann (the owner of the invisible spaceship) is a totally different kind of alien to Sputnik.

The Starman and Me

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The Starman and Me by Sharon Cohen

Book of the Week: 30 June 2019

 

Cover artwork by Sam Kaldo

Shortly after Kofi thinks he sees a small, curled-up figure lying on the roundabout near Tesco, he gets a message on his computer: ‘I’s needin help. I’s Rorty Thrutch’. Thinking it’s some ‘raving nutter’ he blocks the person and logs off, but the next day, when Sumo and his mates take his bag and empty the contents everywhere and he sees his ruler, set square and protractor weave across the grass and pop back into his bag, he thinks there is more to the episode that he first thought. Once he meets the small, hominim (think Stig of the Dump) who  calls  himself Rorty, he decides to take him home and give him the help he needs. Where does Rorty come from and how is he going to get back there? Not only does Kofi need answers, he needs them fast because other people are looking for Rorty and they are far from friendly.

There is plenty of action and science content in this touching and amusing story which would be ideal for fans of books by Ross Welford and Christopher Edge.

Illustration by Edward Ardizzone.

Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth

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Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Book of the Week: 20 January 2019

Illustrated by Steve Lenton

This week’s choice is a book you may have missed from 2016 when it was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Aliens are often depicted as spindly beings who wish to be taken to your leader, or tentacled monstrosities who want to take over the planet. They don’t often come disguised as dogs. Sputnik wears a kilt and goggles and is about the same height as Prez, who is the only one able to see him in this form. Everyone else, including the Blythe family who are looking after Prez, sees him as a different breed of dog. Prez is apparently the reason why Sputnik is visiting Earth. The planet is in danger of destruction and Prez must come up with ten things worth seeing or doing in order to prove the whole place isn’t worthless and deserving of obliteration. Sputnik mostly communicates through telepathy with Prez and by doggy handshakes with everyone else. Despite being worried about his Grandfather who can’t look after him like he normally does, Prez has no choice but to follow Sputnik’s instructions and limit the fallout from Sputnik’s exuberance. There is the memorable time that he gives five year old Annabel a working light sabre at her fifth birthday party and she manages to cut off her friends’ hair and fell a tree.

This is a funny and endearing story that, along with wild adventures and wisecracks, has a touching message about families and a sense of belonging.

Other stories that feature aliens:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams has a lot in common with Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth. Ford Prefect is an alien who is trying to save his friend Arthur Dent before Earth is destroyed to make way for a hyper-space bypass.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells – Earthlings are terrorised by an alien invasion from Mars.

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham – Flesh-eating plants are free to dominate Earth after most people have been blinded by a meteor shower.

Landscape with Invisible Hand by M.T. Anderson – More satire than science fiction.

The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness – Human beings are the alien invaders of a planet inhabited by the Spackle.

The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey – Alien beings disguise themselves as humans hunting down the few survivors left on Earth.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore – A tiny number of alien visitors try to blend in and re-group on Earth but other powers are out to get them.

All the above are in stock in the School Library.