Letters from an Alien Schoolboy

by Ros Asquith

Overview

When Flowkwee goes to planet Earth on a mission, he has to stay disguised—as a small Earthling called Nigel, with only one head and four appendages! But that's not all: His personal mission is to go to a school every day to collect Earthlings to "improve." Nigel knows he has to act dumb around the Earthlings, so in math class he pretends he only knows his times table up until two million and six times nine, and in literacy class he pretends to read like a newborn Faathing baby. A lot of Earthling life is totally weird to Nigel—the odd removable skins Earthlings wear called "clothes" and the funny paint on his mom's face called "makeup"—but in some ways Earth is even better than planet Faa. Earth is full of cool sounds made up of all different pitches and noises called "music," and Earthlings get gifts every year on their birthdays, just for being alive! But while Nigel starts to embrace his Earthling self, in the background lurks a coming invasion that his dad keeps talking about. And why are they so interested in a substance called "spinach"?

Letters from an Alien Schoolboy is sure to delight even the most reluctant readers as Earthling kids giggle their way through Nigel's gaffes and escapades. This is a fantastic gift for girls and boys eight and up!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626362857
Publisher:	Sky Pony
Publication date:	04/22/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Ros Asquith (a.k.a. Professor R. L. Asquith) attended the Camberwell School of Art and worked as a designer, teacher, photographer, theater critic, muralist, and more before settling down to write and illustrate more than sixty children’s books. She has also cuddled with a wolf and caught an escaped tarantula. She resides in London, England.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–6—Flowkwee and his alien family are trying to blend in. Even though they drink their share of vom to hide their extra heads and tentacles, it doesn't take a genius to see that they are different. Coming from Faa, they are operating under the misconception that it is 1942, that males are superior to females, and that kids are taken to school in strollers. The family is ostensibly on Earth to collect Earthlings to take back to Faa to enslave. However, the terrifying Threggs are coming to invade Earth to exploit its spinach. Flowk soon learns that much of what he was raised to believe is worth questioning. Heavily illustrated and boasting a vocabulary filled with Faa words like "ploogle," "scratchflackets," and "flaarp," this silly adventure, written as a series of letters to Flowkwee's friend, Rokbumme, will have readers looking at everyday activities in new ways. The illustrations are key to the humor, and on several panels Asquith has employed some illusory techniques that necessitate the manipulation of the book. Libraries looking to bolster humor collections may be interested in this British import.—Stacy Dillon, LREI, New York City

School Library Journal