By: Jack Cheng
Genre: YFB - General fiction (Children's/Teenage)
Published by: Penguin
Published: 27 Feb 2017
ISBN: 9780141365602

Description

All eleven-year old Alex wants is to launch his iPod into space. With a series of audio recordings, he will show other lifeforms out in the cosmos what life on Earth, his Earth, is really like.


But for a boy with a long-dead dad, a troubled mum, and a mostly-not-around brother, Alex struggles with the big questions. Where do I come from? Who's out there? And, above all, how can I be brave?


Determined to find the answers, Alex sets out on a remarkable road trip that will turn his whole world upside down . . .


Review

Alex is truly remarkable 11 year old who loves space, his mum, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan, named after his astronomer hero. Alex wants to make a recording on his iPod to send into space so that alien life forms can understand what happens on earth every day. So Alex goes on a journey from Colorado to New Mexico then onto to Las Vegas and ends up in LA. Along the way he meets amazing people who help him learn about his family and the secrets his family has been hiding to protect him.


This book is written with each chapter being a recording from his iPod as Alex goes on his life changing journey. Alex is truly wonderful character. His motto is honesty in everything, and the new friends he meets along the way sometimes struggle with this! Although his new friends are equally interesting and absorbing.


Above all else this is a book about family, love, hope and discovery. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry but you will never forget Alex and his wonderful friends, or his unique take on life.


A perfect book for students in lower secondary up who love space, adventure, and characters who are a little bit different.


Reviewed by Michelle