First Published: 1993

Rating: Excellent

"Watch out, Pudge Boy! Here comes number twenty-three!"

Once upon a time, my grandmother gave me a box of books, among them Bruce Coville's I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X. I loved it and, having discovered that it was book two of a series that begins with Aliens Ate My Homework, quickly acquired the rest of the books. I re-read them regularly and have met several other twenty-somethings who feel the same way I do about them.

Where does that nostalgia factor come from? It has a lot to do with Coville's skill with storytelling and characterization. His stories always seem real--even the ones that deal with aliens.

Our hero, Rod Allbright, is your average kid--goes to school, constantly gets beat up by a bully named Billy Becker, can't tell a lie. And then a tiny spaceship comes careening through his window and crashes into his papier-mache, and his life gets very, very strange. Rod meets the crew of the Ferkel, who are trapped at miniature size until they can fix the enlarging ray on their spaceship, and discovers their mission is to capture an intergalactic criminal who is hiding on earth.

That criminal turns out to be Billy Becker, whose hobby is tormenting Rod. When Captain Grakker makes Rod a deputy of the Intergalactic Patrol, the boy has to help them capture Billy and fix their spaceship--and in the process he learns a great deal about himself and his obligations as a human being.

It's flat-out a great story. The characters are quirky without being too odd, and the first person narration provides insight and humor--Coville knows his audience and it shows. More importantly, he writes for kids without talking down to them. The book's humor is intelligent and it tries to convey moral messages.

Granted, in later books, Coville borders on being preachy with his messages, but Aliens Ate My Homework has some good ones. They range from simple things like learning to believe in yourself to the concept of cruelty as the greatest evil in the universe. I personally enjoy the part where Rod tries to protest that he can't handle what the aliens want him to do because he's "just a kid"--something the aliens feel shouldn't make a difference.

Other issues addressed include personal responsibility, lying, doing what's right when it doesn't seem like the best thing to do, and growing up in a single parent household (Rod's father has been missing for a year). Coville does an excellent job of portraying these issues without being too heavy-handed, and the reality of the way they're dealt with just makes the book all the better.

If I were in charge of such things, I'd pass out copies of Coville's books to everyone--kids, teenagers, adults--anyone who would take one. They're all-around excellent, and Aliens Ate My Homework is a great place for kids who want to try sci-fi to start.

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