Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont

by Nick Brooks

Overview

E.T. meets Stranger Things in this middle-grade novel series from author and award-winning filmmaker Nick Brooks. With crossover appeal, this fun, engaging series has plenty of nostalgia nods for adults to appreciate as well as young readers. 

Something cool happening in Ferrous City? Not a chance. Until one day . . . when self-proclaimed genius inventor Ethan Fairmont runs into an abandoned car factory to avoid a local bully and accidentally stumbles across his ex–best friend Kareem, new kid Juan Carlos, and an extraterrestrial visitor. Cheese (the alien) is stuck on Earth and in need of some serious repairs, spicy snacks—and absolute, total secrecy. That’s easier said than done when mysterious agents descend on Ferrous City to search for Cheese. With time running out and their family and friends in potential danger, can Ethan, Kareem, and Juan Carlos pull off an intergalactic rescue before they’re all found out?

Weaving issues of racial profiling, community struggles, and everyday life in a fast-paced science fiction adventure, Brooks’s debut middle-grade series is destined to be a favorite out-of-this-world adventure for kids 9–12. A timely—and timeless—sci-fi epic for fans of Tristen Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky and the Artemis Fowl series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454947165
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Series:	Ethan Fairmont
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	74,984
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Nick Brooks is an author and award-winning filmmaker. His short film Hoop Dreamin’ earned him the George Lucas Scholar Award and he was a finalist in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Film Fest. His short film Bee won the James Bridges and Jack Larson Award for Writing and Directing and premiered at the American Black Film Festival. A rising star, Brooks is poised to be a breakout author with his debut middle-grade novel, Nothing Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont, and his YA debut title, Promise Boys. Nick currently lives in Los Angeles, California, and is originally from Washington, D.C. Visit Nick at thenickbrooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

An inventive story with a lot of heart.” —Kirkus Reviews 
 
“Along with cheering for Ethan and his six-eyed, junk-food-loving buddy through adventures both comical and suspenseful, readers are bound to have nuanced reactions to the tale as a whole.” —Booklist
 
“Your child will race to finish off this quick and fun really great reading option.” —Daily Mom

From the Publisher

2022-08-17
A young inventor gets in and out of trouble in an out-of-this-world summer adventure.

Their already small house becomes even smaller when Ethan’s brothers return from college, making for four boys, two parents, a guinea pig, and a lack of space for Ethan’s projects. Luckily, an abandoned factory offers him a place to tinker while avoiding his ex–best friend, Kareem, who has seemingly teamed up with neighborhood bullies in a frustrating act of betrayal. New arrival Juan Carlos is having a hard time settling in, but soon he and Ethan build a strong bond while outrunning those bullies and clumsily making first contact with an alien. When Kareem returns to the fold, explaining that his mood changes were fallout from his parents’ messy divorce, the three sixth graders make for an impressively empathetic friend group of Black and brown boys who are transparent about their fears while working together to help the extraterrestrial visitor they lovingly name Cheese. Getting Cheese home, however, will require navigating the police—who understandably don’t have the best reputation in this community—and the mysterious agents they’re working with who are obvious threats to Cheese. Flashy science-fiction elements are paired with authentically kidlike attention to social realities as Ethan reflects on the value of connections in the face of confusing threats. Although all is resolved in a sort of anticlimactic and idyllic hurry, the boys find happy endings that readers will root for.

An inventive story with a lot of heart. (Science fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews