Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic Simmons, M. 2009 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | J Simmons, M. | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
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Summary
Summary
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MEETS DOUGLAS ADAMS as two kids and one old man prepare to save the world.
Things are getting better with the alien invasion. Sure it's still not too uncommon to come home and find your step-parents reduced to a pile of unsavory feet--but at least now with the disease killing the aliens off, you have a relatively decent chance of making it through a day without getting mostly eaten. William knows this first-hand, having lost both his step-parents, but when the aliens kidnap his long-time crush Sophie's scientist parents (and the government won't help) it's up to William, Sophie, and William's bizarre Uncle Maynard to save them...and perhaps the rest of the world while they are at it. A hysterically twisted adventure that will knock your feet off!
Author Notes
Michael Simmons is the author of four previous novels: Pool Boy , Vandal , Finding Lubchenko , and The Rise of Lubchenko . He lives in New York, New York.
George O'Connor is an author, illustrator and cartoonist. His first graphic novel, Journey Into Mohawk Country , used as its sole text the actual historical journal of the seventeenth-century Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, and told the true story of how New York almost wasn't. He followed that up with Ball Peen Hammer , the first graphic novel written by playwright Adam Rapp, a dark, dystopian view of a society's collapse. Now he has brought his attention to Olympians, an ongoing series retelling the classic Greek myths in comics form. In addition to his graphic novel career, O'Connor has published several children's picture books, including the New York Times best-selling Kapow , Sally and the Some-Thing , and Uncle Bigfoot . He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-The year is 2017. Aliens have just eaten both of 12-year-old William's stepparents, and he is left to fend for himself in the midst of an invasion. Fortunately, he is able to find his secret crush, Sophie, whose parents have only been abducted. With the help of his Uncle Maynard, they come up with a rescue plan. The youngsters are nicely developed, and, refreshingly, they act as you'd expect kids to behave in such a stressful situation, not like miniature adults. O'Connor's artwork adds to the humor. While the illustration of severed feet on the cover may put some readers off, it does a great job of setting the tone of the book as a send-up of old-time alien-invasion films. Simmons has a light touch, and readers will laugh through his explanation of how William came to be living with two stepparents and the aversion aliens have to eating human feet. The self-awareness of the narrator makes the opening chapters evocative of Lemony Snicket's work. Given that the novel begins in such a humorous vein, the poignant ending may come as a bit of a surprise. Alien Feast will leave readers waiting eagerly for the next installment. This title will be popular with fans of Adam Rex's The True Meaning of Smekday (Hyperion, 2007) and those who have outgrown Dan Greenburg's "Secrets of Dripping Fang" books (Harcourt).-Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
The aliens that have landed in the town of Willoughby are mean and ugly-and they eat people (everything except their feet)-in this opening volume in Simmons's (Vandal) Chronicles of the First Invasion series. Twelve-year-old William Aitkin "didn't particularly mind" when the aliens ate his stepparents-after all, they weren't very nice to him and they "despised his violin playing" (he dreams of being a famous violinist). William is on his way to visit his eccentric Uncle Maynard, however, when he discovers that the parents of his crush, Sophie, have been kidnapped by the aliens, possibly to help cure a killer virus that stands between them and world conquest. Worse still, the mayor seems to be in cahoots with the invaders. Soon William, Sophie and Uncle Maynard are off to the mayor's country estate in a desperate bid to rescue Sophie's parents. Fortunately for them, "aliens are not quite as smart as you'd think." With its fair share of ray-gun battles, hairbreadth escapes and mild gross-out moments-often involving detached human feet-this lightweight tale is enjoyable and, at times, genuinely funny. Ages 8-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) This first book of a projected series begins with a grabber: "On the twenty-ninth of September, in the year 2017, William Aitkin's so-called stepparents were eaten by aliens, which he didn't particularly mind, seeing as they had never been very nice to him." What follows, in understated, declarative sentences, is an outline of the series' premise, plenty of deadpan humor, and a nifty whiff of pulp fiction thrown in for good measure. Everyboy William joins up with his Uncle Maynard, a reclusive songwriter, and his intriguing classmate Sophie Astronovitch, whose doctor parents have been mysteriously kidnapped by the flesh-eating creatures from outer space. Together the three intrepid heroes set out to find the Drs. Astronovitch, a dangerous mission that uncovers abuses of power at the highest level, precipitates exciting battles, and triggers the discovery that the aliens are dying out...from chicken pox. Forget for a moment the aliens' nasty habit of devouring the world's known population, and applaud this vessel of pure escapist fiction, complete with dandy special effects and no small measure of wish fulfillment, that's landed just in time for summer reading. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
On Sept. 29, 2017, William Aitkin's step-parents were eaten by aliens, a fate suffered by many during the First Invasion. These space creatures were not super-geniuses intent on some well-orchestrated mission to take over Earth; they were more like "a rabble of alien teenage delinquents" who had stolen spaceships and somehow mastered space travel and made it to Earth, where they gobbled up much of the population, except for victims' feet (they don't like feet). William teams up with his Uncle Maynard and Sophie, whose scientist parents have been abducted by the invaders, to take a stand. Though the third-person narration contains Simmons's characteristically understated humor, it reads like a report, with little dialogue and many missed opportunities for exciting plotting. Still, the out-of-this-world story will appeal to young readers, who will look forward to the second installment. (Science fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Following an alien invasion, Planet Earth in the year 2017 is unsafe for humans. After his not-so-nice stepparents are eaten by the aliens, William Aitken seeks refuge with his elderly, eccentric uncle Maynard, a violin instructor. Along the way, he's joined by a classmate, Sophie, whose doctor parents have been kidnapped by extraterrestrials. Together, the trio endeavors to rescue Sophie's parents, bringing dangerous alien and human confrontations and escapes that culminate in a pensive, poignant ending. After a slow start, the dramatic pace in this first book in the Chronicles of the First Invasion picks up in short, action-packed chapters that feature Lemony Snicket-esque asides and classic conventions from sci-fi movies and comics, including tentacled aliens, ray guns, a secret lab, and slick politician villains, all humorously represented in the small black-and-white cartoon illustrations. The serious, unexpected ending effectively conveys the impact of tragedy and will prompt questions and discussion. Readers will be drawn in by the lively narrative and its appealing, likable, violin-playing hero, and they'll look forward to the promised sequels.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2009 Booklist