Monday, May 2, 2011

Aliens on Vacation by Clete Smith

Publisher's description : "David, otherwise known as Scrub (don't ask), isn't happy about leaving Florida and his friends to summer with his grandmother in "Middle of Nowhere," Washington. When he arrives at her Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast, he isn't surprised by its 60s meets Star Wars decor, but he is surprised by the weird-looking guests. It turns out that each room in the inn is a portal, and his grandma is the gate-keeper, allowing aliens to vacation on Earth. Grandma desperately needs Scrub's help with welcoming (and disguising) the tourists, shopping for cartloads of aluminum foil for dinner, and taking rambunctious alien kids camping in the nearby woods. The problem is, the town sheriff--already suspicious about Granny--is a scout leader camping in the same spot."

A combination of science fiction and humor, Aliens on Vacation will appeal to a wide audience.  There is also a little romantic thread running through as Scrub finally learns how to talk to a girl, even one he has a crush on.  Scrub is an amazing young boy.  Thrown into a situation not many young boys would be able to handle he manages to help his grandmother take care of and entertain her "guests" in the inn although he also gets the inn into a lot of trouble around the same time he wins the summer challenge. The basketball scenes with the aliens are hysterical as is the kind of food the aliens eat. Imagine eating tin foil for dinner?  Yuk!.  All of the main characters are well drawn and Grandma, Mr. Harnox, Amy and Scrub are all believable and likeable.  The Star Wars theme is brilliant and kids who read nothing but Star Wars books will enjoy this.  Clete Smith has his finger on the pulse of what middle grade students like and I highly recommended this book for boys and girls alike.
Read as an ebook arc courtesy of Disney-Hyperion via Netgalley.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i will love this book
i will mis you

matt.s said...

the last comment was from mathew sansone

Anonymous said...

Dear Mrs.Kates,
this book looks really good.i will miss u!!!!

Mia G.

Mrs. Katz said...

I will you miss you too.

Anna Harmon said...

i will miss you too!!!!!! i will injoy this book!!!!! see you!!!


-anna