Four children find a small flying saucer in the forest, and the youngest, six-year-old Willys, eats the sandwich inside it. They try to keep it a secret until a huge flying saucer shows up and a pair of big sandwich-like aliens emerge from it. They’re looking for their missing child, Goobex 3.
Two special agents take the children and their parents to a secret base, and a meeting with the Goobexes is arranged.
Willys is enclosed in an alien "undigester" device that reveals he ate a normal sandwich! A science teacher the children met in the forest must have made the switch, but why?
After a massive manhunt, Goobex 3 is found with his new pet, a big foot! In the process, Willys learns the undigester gave him a superpower; he can make people barf!
The president holds a “Stop the Steal of Our Sasquatch” rally outside the mothership and is delighted when it turns into an anti-alien riot.
Willys, his family and the science teacher fly into space with the Goobexes who use a fail-safe device to take the entire solar system back two days in time.
In the end, they’re returned to Earth, where nobody else remembers.
Four children find a small flying saucer in the forest, and the youngest, six-year-old Willys, eats the sandwich inside it. They try to keep it a secret until a huge flying saucer shows up and a pair of big sandwich-like aliens emerge from it. They’re looking for their missing child, Goobex 3.
Two special agents take the children and their parents to a secret base, and a meeting with the Goobexes is arranged.
Willys is enclosed in an alien "undigester" device that reveals he ate a normal sandwich! A science teacher the children met in the forest must have made the switch, but why?
After a massive manhunt, Goobex 3 is found with his new pet, a big foot! In the process, Willys learns the undigester gave him a superpower; he can make people barf!
The president holds a “Stop the Steal of Our Sasquatch” rally outside the mothership and is delighted when it turns into an anti-alien riot.
Willys, his family and the science teacher fly into space with the Goobexes who use a fail-safe device to take the entire solar system back two days in time.
In the end, they’re returned to Earth, where nobody else remembers.
It was the summer of 2019 in a reality very close to our own.
Violet Wilson threw some granola bars and a compass into her backpack. She had already packed several bottles of water, a two-gal- lon ziplock bag full of writing supplies and correction tape, a pocket thesaurus, two pads of yellow legal paper, and an enormous book of famous quotes. There would be no internet access deep in the forest where she was going, and she was determined to complete her mani- festo today! The introduction still needed work.
Look around you. A few decades from now, the children you see will be called on to lead this great nation. Sadly, that job might be too difficult for us.
Many of the students I know have learned to reject facts in favor of slogans. They give more weight to personal bias than to science and history. This makes progress nearly impossible. As Isaac Asimov said, “There is a cult of ignorance...nurtured by the false notion that democ- racy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
Violet was fed up with her classmates spouting bogus, unjustifiable opinions while calling the facts “fake news.” Trying to have an honest discussion with some kids, like Irwin Slater, made her blood boil. She felt like punching that sexist jerk right in the nose when he said, “I’ve known way more than a few females who have serious mood swings. Therefore, I think it’s dangerous and irresponsible to vote for a woman president.”
What gall! Violet wasn’t a violent person, but she wanted to strike back! A self-satisfied, pigheaded culture was growing like mold in her school, and she was aching to stomp it out.
After weeks of brainstorming, one compelling idea burned in her mind like a hot coal. The best way to battle the “cult of ignorance” was to resurrect the Sky View High School journalism club and student-written newspaper. Both had died over thirty-five years ago.
Her best friend, Pamela Edison, thought it was a great idea. She was glad to help with the proposal, but she also had concerns.
“We’ll be laughed out of school if we only get geeks and fresh- men to join,” she told Violet in a text message.
Pamela had just returned from a summer job working as a junior counselor at Grand Pines Wilderness Camp. It was loaded with students from their school, and she spoke to all of them.
Some kids were enthusiastic about the club. Some were ready to sign up. Others were cynical or even angry about her requesting precious school resources to waste on a “stupid newspaper.”
The battle lines had been drawn, and Pamela’s insights were the likely key to their success. She insisted that the best place to think and write was the forest, so she called for a hike, as usual.
Violet was itching to put a plan together. The fall semester was hurtling toward them like an asteroid headed for planet Earth, and her friend was already sixteen minutes late!
“She better not be doing her laundry from camp,” she mumbled while stuffing A Young Person’s Guide to the Constitution into her bag. It was starting to get heavy.
“Oogah! Oogah!”
The alert notified her of an incoming message from her mom.
She scowled and hit the text icon. Her mother’s words made her overworked brain boil.
“I need to work late. Please watch your brothers. 😘”
“No way!”
Violet resisted the urge to throw her phone out of a window and pretend she never saw the message. Instead, she hit the callback icon and paced around her room.
“I’m not putting up with this.”
“Hello, Vi,” her mom sang out through the speaker.
Violet froze, like a burglar surrounded by guard dogs.
“I cannot watch the boys,” she said through clenched teeth.
“I called all our sitters, and none of them are available. I need you to do this.”
“I can’t!” Violet kicked her backpack. It toppled over, and a water bottle rolled out. “Pamela and I are going on a hike.”
“So? Take the boys.”
“No! We have important school business to deal with. I can’t focus if I have to watch those two lunatics.”
“They are not lunatics. They’re your brothers.”
“But they—”
“No buts. In five years, you’ll hardly remember your ‘important school business.’ You’ll be in college. Then your brothers will grow up, and hopefully they’ll go to college too. And you know who’s going to pay for all that?”
Violet had heard this speech before. Her mom, who worked part-time as a real estate agent, was giving her the hard sell. There was no escaping it. The lecture about the responsibilities and challenges of parenthood went on and on. She was actually relieved when her mother got to the point.
“Margaret called in sick, and there’s an open house today. I have to stay here and take over.” She paused, almost daring her daughter to complain. “You can watch the boys at home or take them on your hike. I’m sorry you have to do this, but I’ll pay you $15 an hour.”
“I don’t care about the money,” Violet mumbled.
“Good. I won’t force you to take it. I expect your father to be home around five thirty. You can deal with your school business then.”
A muted beeping told Violet that her mom had an incoming call.
“I have to go now. Please, keep the boys out of trouble.”
Mrs. Wilson hung up.
Violet threw her cell phone into a dresser drawer and slammed it shut. She crossed the room and glared at the piece of furniture.
“This isn’t fair! It’s involuntary servitude!”
Her rant was cut short by the doorbell. She stomped to the front door and peeked out of the little window on top.
Pamela was standing there with a Grand Pines hat on her head and a Nature Conservancy messenger bag slung over her left shoulder.
Violet opened the door and glared at the floor.
“We can’t go on the hike.”
“Why not?”
“I have to watch my stupid brothers.”
Pamela took her hat off as she entered the house.
“Can’t they go play with some friends?”
“No. Brad always causes trouble. He thinks it’s funny.”
Violet shoved the front door shut. She hadn’t noticed the chubby thirteen-year-old standing in a doorway behind her.
“Hi, Pamela,” Brad said, with a toothy grin. “Do you wanna cause some trouble with me? We can have lots o’ laughs.”
The girls rolled their eyes and brushed past Brad. They went straight to Violet’s room, closing the door behind them.
Pamela deposited her bag at the foot of the bed and sat down.
“If you have to watch your brothers, you may as well do it in the forest.”
Violet rolled onto her bed.
“We won’t get any work done.”
“Will we get more done by staying here? A hike might wear them out.”
“This is so unfair.” Violet strangled her pillow.
“Sometimes life is fair. Sometimes it isn’t.”
“That really doesn’t help.”
“At Grand Pines, the counselors taught us that every problem is a question of balance. For every yin, there’s a yang.”
“Too bad yin and yang don’t babysit.”
“Ha, ha.” Pamela stood up. “If we go on the hike, I’ll help you watch your brothers.”
Violet locked eyes with her friend.
“You’ll help watch Brad and Willys? In the forest?”
“Yes. Brad’s a pain, but Willys is what, like, five years old?”
“He’s six.”
“I can handle a six-year-old.”
“That’s what they all think.”
Pamela took it as a challenge. “I was in charge of ten kids at camp. We went on hikes all the time. This is no different.”
Violet shrugged.
“Fine. We can take them on the hike, but I guarantee we won’t get any work done.”
“We’ll see.” Pamela stood up defiantly and walked to the room Violet’s brothers shared.
Willys was crawling around the floor playing with superhero action figures.
“Oh no! Loki and Dr. Doom teamed up! Who can stop them? Go get help, Spider-Man!”
Pamela dodged the action figure the boy tossed across the room.
“Whoa. I didn’t know Spider-Man could fly like that.”
“He was swingin’ on his webs.”
Pamela sat next to him and picked up a toy jeep with Captain America inside.
“Superheroes are cool,” she said.
“Yeah, specially the Avengers.” He got up and ran around the room with his Iron Man figure while making jet sounds.
“Do you think Captain America would like to go on a hike in the forest?”
“Probly.” The little boy came back and held up another superhero. “He’d take Wolverine to cut firewood. Chop! Chop!”
Pamela put the jeep down.
“I like the forest.”
“Me too.” Willys picked up a Hulk action figure. “You call that choppin’ wood? Watch this! Rah!” He pounded the Hulk against the floor and imagined him reducing a piece of lumber to splinters.
“Hey! Would you like to go on a hike with Violet and me?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Yes!” Willys pumped his fist.
He ran to his closet and got his plastic baseball bat and a pair of cowboy boots.
“I can protect us from wild animals.”
Pamela smiled at the rambunctious little boy.
“Those critters won’t mess with you.”
“They better not. I bet I can run faster than Violet too.” He pulled his boots on. “You wanna race?”
Pamela tousled the boy’s hair.
“Not now. I still need to convince your brother to come with us.”
“Why? He doesn’t like goin’ on hikes.”
“Your mom won’t like it if we leave him alone.”
“I guess.” Willys frowned. “What if he won’t go?”
“Don’t worry. I know a trick or two. I’m really good at getting kids to participate in camp activities.” Pamela smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. “Do you know where he is?”
Brad was on the couch in the den, playing a video game featur- ing robot dinosaurs.
Pamela walked into the room and glanced at the television.
“New game?” she asked.
“No, just an old favorite.”
She stood behind the couch and leaned close to him.
He could feel her breath on his neck. It annoyed him.
“Even the best games can’t beat reality,” she said.
“Reality sucks most of the time.”
“I’m just saying. A virtual milkshake can’t beat a real one.”
“You wanna make milkshakes? We have ice cream.” Brad liked the idea of milkshakes, but he continued playing his game.
Pamela sashayed to the other side of the couch and sat next to him.
“I make great shakes. My dad taught me how. I’ll make one for you if you go on a hike with me.”
“With you?” Brad paused the game and looked up at Pamela.
“With me, Violet, and Willys.”
“No, thanks. I don’t like hikes, ticks, or mosquitoes.” He was going to continue his game, but Pamela squeezed his shoulder.
“Come on. We’re taking a trail that leads to a hot spring. Even the college kids don’t know about it. If you don’t come, you’ll regret it. It’s a beautiful day for a hike.”
Brad shrugged and pushed her hand off his shoulder.
“Not if I get poison oak.”
“I know all about poison oak and poison ivy. I’ll warn you if I see any. It’s going to be totally cool.”
“I thought you were going to a hot spring. Those aren’t cool.”
“Come on. What do you have to lose? A little physical activity might actually be fun.”
“You wanna have fun?” He raised one eyebrow and grinned. “You don’t need to go on a hike. We can have fun right here.”
Pamela scowled. She knocked the game controller out of the boy’s hands and stormed out of the room.
“Hey!”
Brad smirked. He enjoyed getting people riled up, especially his sister and her friends.
He popped open the can of root beer next to him on the coffee table and drank deeply.
When he got up to retrieve his controller, Violet tromped into the room.
“I’m not going on your stupid hike.”
“Mom’s paying me $15 an hour. I’ll give you five.”
“Slave wages,” he snorted as he sat on the couch and prepared to resume his game.
Violet blocked his view of the television.
“Fine! I’ll give you half.”
“Oh boy! Seven fifty an hour! Should I invest in the stock market?”
“Please.” Violet begged with her hands clenched together.
“I’m about to kill Megasaurus. Why would I give that up for a stupid hike?”
Violet’s shoulders slumped. She looked defeated.
“Okay,” she said. “I guess you can go to Aunt Pearl’s house.”
Brad’s eyes shot daggers at her.
“I’m not going there. She tried to make me eat liver dumplings the last time.”
“She makes those from scratch. I heard you told her kids they were worse than rat poison.”
“They thought it was funny.”
“She’s still really mad about that.”
“So what?” He put the controller down and crossed his arms. “Besides, they don’t even have an internet connection. It’s like they’re living in the stone age.”
“You’ll survive a few hours without the internet. Do you really want me to call her?”
She already knew the answer.
Brad might whine and resist for a while, but the hike was back
on. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches from
Outer Space!
(A Twenty-First-Century Fairy Tale)
by I. S. Noah
CHAPTER 1
Yin and Yang
It was the summer of 2019 in a reality very close to our own.
Violet Wilson threw some granola bars and a compass into her backpack. She had already packed several bottles of water, a two-gal- lon ziplock bag full of writing supplies and correction tape, a pocket thesaurus, two pads of yellow legal paper, and an enormous book of famous quotes. There would be no internet access deep in the forest where she was going, and she was determined to complete her mani- festo today! The introduction still needed work.
Look around you. A few decades from now, the children you see will be called on to lead this great nation. Sadly, that job might be too difficult for us.
Many of the students I know have learned to reject facts in favor of slogans. They give more weight to personal bias than to science and history. This makes progress nearly impossible. As Isaac Asimov said, “There is a cult of ignorance...nurtured by the false notion that democ- racy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
Violet was fed up with her classmates spouting bogus, unjustifiable opinions while calling the facts “fake news.” Trying to have an honest discussion with some kids, like Irwin Slater, made her blood boil. She felt like punching that sexist jerk right in the nose when he said, “I’ve known way more than a few females who have serious mood swings. Therefore, I think it’s dangerous and irresponsible to vote for a woman president.”
What gall! Violet wasn’t a violent person, but she wanted to strike back! A self-satisfied, pigheaded culture was growing like mold in her school, and she was aching to stomp it out.
After weeks of brainstorming, one compelling idea burned in her mind like a hot coal. The best way to battle the “cult of ignorance” was to resurrect the Sky View High School journalism club and student-written newspaper. Both had died over thirty-five years ago.
Her best friend, Pamela Edison, thought it was a great idea. She was glad to help with the proposal, but she also had concerns.
“We’ll be laughed out of school if we only get geeks and fresh- men to join,” she told Violet in a text message.
Pamela had just returned from a summer job working as a junior counselor at Grand Pines Wilderness Camp. It was loaded with students from their school, and she spoke to all of them.
Some kids were enthusiastic about the club. Some were ready to sign up. Others were cynical or even angry about her requesting precious school resources to waste on a “stupid newspaper.”
The battle lines had been drawn, and Pamela’s insights were the likely key to their success. She insisted that the best place to think and write was the forest, so she called for a hike, as usual.
Violet was itching to put a plan together. The fall semester was hurtling toward them like an asteroid headed for planet Earth, and her friend was already sixteen minutes late!
“She better not be doing her laundry from camp,” she mumbled while stuffing A Young Person’s Guide to the Constitution into her bag. It was starting to get heavy.
“Oogah! Oogah!”
The alert notified her of an incoming message from her mom.
She scowled and hit the text icon. Her mother’s words made her overworked brain boil.
“I need to work late. Please watch your brothers. 😘”
“No way!”
Violet resisted the urge to throw her phone out of a window and pretend she never saw the message. Instead, she hit the callback icon and paced around her room.
“I’m not putting up with this.”
“Hello, Vi,” her mom sang out through the speaker.
Violet froze, like a burglar surrounded by guard dogs.
“I cannot watch the boys,” she said through clenched teeth.
“I called all our sitters, and none of them are available. I need you to do this.”
“I can’t!” Violet kicked her backpack. It toppled over, and a water bottle rolled out. “Pamela and I are going on a hike.”
“So? Take the boys.”
“No! We have important school business to deal with. I can’t focus if I have to watch those two lunatics.”
“They are not lunatics. They’re your brothers.”
“But they—”
“No buts. In five years, you’ll hardly remember your ‘important school business.’ You’ll be in college. Then your brothers will grow up, and hopefully they’ll go to college too. And you know who’s going to pay for all that?”
Violet had heard this speech before. Her mom, who worked part-time as a real estate agent, was giving her the hard sell. There was no escaping it. The lecture about the responsibilities and challenges of parenthood went on and on. She was actually relieved when her mother got to the point.
“Margaret called in sick, and there’s an open house today. I have to stay here and take over.” She paused, almost daring her daughter to complain. “You can watch the boys at home or take them on your hike. I’m sorry you have to do this, but I’ll pay you $15 an hour.”
“I don’t care about the money,” Violet mumbled.
“Good. I won’t force you to take it. I expect your father to be home around five thirty. You can deal with your school business then.”
A muted beeping told Violet that her mom had an incoming call.
“I have to go now. Please, keep the boys out of trouble.”
Mrs. Wilson hung up.
Violet threw her cell phone into a dresser drawer and slammed it shut. She crossed the room and glared at the piece of furniture.
“This isn’t fair! It’s involuntary servitude!”
Her rant was cut short by the doorbell. She stomped to the front door and peeked out of the little window on top.
Pamela was standing there with a Grand Pines hat on her head and a Nature Conservancy messenger bag slung over her left shoulder.
Violet opened the door and glared at the floor.
“We can’t go on the hike.”
“Why not?”
“I have to watch my stupid brothers.”
Pamela took her hat off as she entered the house.
“Can’t they go play with some friends?”
“No. Brad always causes trouble. He thinks it’s funny.”
Violet shoved the front door shut. She hadn’t noticed the chubby thirteen-year-old standing in a doorway behind her.
“Hi, Pamela,” Brad said, with a toothy grin. “Do you wanna cause some trouble with me? We can have lots o’ laughs.”
The girls rolled their eyes and brushed past Brad. They went straight to Violet’s room, closing the door behind them.
Pamela deposited her bag at the foot of the bed and sat down.
“If you have to watch your brothers, you may as well do it in the forest.”
Violet rolled onto her bed.
“We won’t get any work done.”
“Will we get more done by staying here? A hike might wear them out.”
“This is so unfair.” Violet strangled her pillow.
“Sometimes life is fair. Sometimes it isn’t.”
“That really doesn’t help.”
“At Grand Pines, the counselors taught us that every problem is a question of balance. For every yin, there’s a yang.”
“Too bad yin and yang don’t babysit.”
“Ha, ha.” Pamela stood up. “If we go on the hike, I’ll help you watch your brothers.”
Violet locked eyes with her friend.
“You’ll help watch Brad and Willys? In the forest?”
“Yes. Brad’s a pain, but Willys is what, like, five years old?”
“He’s six.”
“I can handle a six-year-old.”
“That’s what they all think.”
Pamela took it as a challenge. “I was in charge of ten kids at camp. We went on hikes all the time. This is no different.”
Violet shrugged.
“Fine. We can take them on the hike, but I guarantee we won’t get any work done.”
“We’ll see.” Pamela stood up defiantly and walked to the room Violet’s brothers shared.
Willys was crawling around the floor playing with superhero action figures.
“Oh no! Loki and Dr. Doom teamed up! Who can stop them? Go get help, Spider-Man!”
Pamela dodged the action figure the boy tossed across the room.
“Whoa. I didn’t know Spider-Man could fly like that.”
“He was swingin’ on his webs.”
Pamela sat next to him and picked up a toy jeep with Captain America inside.
“Superheroes are cool,” she said.
“Yeah, specially the Avengers.” He got up and ran around the room with his Iron Man figure while making jet sounds.
“Do you think Captain America would like to go on a hike in the forest?”
“Probly.” The little boy came back and held up another superhero. “He’d take Wolverine to cut firewood. Chop! Chop!”
Pamela put the jeep down.
“I like the forest.”
“Me too.” Willys picked up a Hulk action figure. “You call that choppin’ wood? Watch this! Rah!” He pounded the Hulk against the floor and imagined him reducing a piece of lumber to splinters.
“Hey! Would you like to go on a hike with Violet and me?”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Yes!” Willys pumped his fist.
He ran to his closet and got his plastic baseball bat and a pair of cowboy boots.
“I can protect us from wild animals.”
Pamela smiled at the rambunctious little boy.
“Those critters won’t mess with you.”
“They better not. I bet I can run faster than Violet too.” He pulled his boots on. “You wanna race?”
Pamela tousled the boy’s hair.
“Not now. I still need to convince your brother to come with us.”
“Why? He doesn’t like goin’ on hikes.”
“Your mom won’t like it if we leave him alone.”
“I guess.” Willys frowned. “What if he won’t go?”
“Don’t worry. I know a trick or two. I’m really good at getting kids to participate in camp activities.” Pamela smiled and ran her fingers through her hair. “Do you know where he is?”
Brad was on the couch in the den, playing a video game featur- ing robot dinosaurs.
Pamela walked into the room and glanced at the television.
“New game?” she asked.
“No, just an old favorite.”
She stood behind the couch and leaned close to him.
He could feel her breath on his neck. It annoyed him.
“Even the best games can’t beat reality,” she said.
“Reality sucks most of the time.”
“I’m just saying. A virtual milkshake can’t beat a real one.”
“You wanna make milkshakes? We have ice cream.” Brad liked the idea of milkshakes, but he continued playing his game.
Pamela sashayed to the other side of the couch and sat next to him.
“I make great shakes. My dad taught me how. I’ll make one for you if you go on a hike with me.”
“With you?” Brad paused the game and looked up at Pamela.
“With me, Violet, and Willys.”
“No, thanks. I don’t like hikes, ticks, or mosquitoes.” He was going to continue his game, but Pamela squeezed his shoulder.
“Come on. We’re taking a trail that leads to a hot spring. Even the college kids don’t know about it. If you don’t come, you’ll regret it. It’s a beautiful day for a hike.”
Brad shrugged and pushed her hand off his shoulder.
“Not if I get poison oak.”
“I know all about poison oak and poison ivy. I’ll warn you if I see any. It’s going to be totally cool.”
“I thought you were going to a hot spring. Those aren’t cool.”
“Come on. What do you have to lose? A little physical activity might actually be fun.”
“You wanna have fun?” He raised one eyebrow and grinned. “You don’t need to go on a hike. We can have fun right here.”
Pamela scowled. She knocked the game controller out of the boy’s hands and stormed out of the room.
“Hey!”
Brad smirked. He enjoyed getting people riled up, especially his sister and her friends.
He popped open the can of root beer next to him on the coffee table and drank deeply.
When he got up to retrieve his controller, Violet tromped into the room.
“I’m not going on your stupid hike.”
“Mom’s paying me $15 an hour. I’ll give you five.”
“Slave wages,” he snorted as he sat on the couch and prepared to resume his game.
Violet blocked his view of the television.
“Fine! I’ll give you half.”
“Oh boy! Seven fifty an hour! Should I invest in the stock market?”
“Please.” Violet begged with her hands clenched together.
“I’m about to kill Megasaurus. Why would I give that up for a stupid hike?”
Violet’s shoulders slumped. She looked defeated.
“Okay,” she said. “I guess you can go to Aunt Pearl’s house.”
Brad’s eyes shot daggers at her.
“I’m not going there. She tried to make me eat liver dumplings the last time.”
“She makes those from scratch. I heard you told her kids they were worse than rat poison.”
“They thought it was funny.”
“She’s still really mad about that.”
“So what?” He put the controller down and crossed his arms. “Besides, they don’t even have an internet connection. It’s like they’re living in the stone age.”
“You’ll survive a few hours without the internet. Do you really want me to call her?”
She already knew the answer.
Brad might whine and resist for a while, but the hike was back
on.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches from Outer Space! by author I.S. Noah starts out as a fun and entertaining children’s science fiction adventure with amusing political overtones, but it unexpectedly deviates completely from the children to focus on political satire. The plot is exciting and clever, but a couple of dark moments may make it iffy for younger readers.
The main plot, the children discovering a small alien spacecraft hidden in a forest cave while on a hike and finding out it is that of an alien offspring who has left his parent’s craft without permission to hunt for Big Foot, is delightful. The author crafts a fun tale of the Wilson children: the put-upon older teenage sister, Violet, and her rambunctious and irreverent younger brothers, Brad and Willys, and Violet’s soon-to-be-shellshocked BFF, Pamela Edison. The writing is easy to read and full of laugh-out-loud scenes, many containing relatable, true-to-life interactions among the siblings. Pamela, an only child fresh from a stint as a camp counselor, had no idea what she was getting into by agreeing to help Violet babysit the two Wilson boys.
I loved the aftermath of the Wilsons notifying the feds that they had found Goobex 3’s spacecraft with the ensuing visit, testing, and interrogation in the “Men in Black” style secret underground base. The author includes so many special touches, such as Agent Orange’s unusual effect on people, the ten sniffer dog teams comprised of some less-than-traditional breeds (one’s a PUG), and enough bodily fluids mentioned to thrill the heart of any 10-year-old boy. The author tells a great story for this age range, and yet, underlying the adventure is a dark theme: Willys’s trauma for what he believes he’s inadvertently done to Goobex 3.
The political aspects of the story begin light-heartedly with the author mimicking Trump’s verbal patterns to an amusing “T.” But, as things progress, the children’s involvement is dropped, and the plot focuses solely on how the author envisions Trump’s “first contact” would unfold. While there are unexpected and funny consequences to Trump’s negotiations with the Goobex, I believe younger readers would lose interest in the story before getting to them. This last quarter of the book includes some additional dark images, such as a general shooting a raccoon out of a tree only because he could do so and bystanders drowning when January 6th-type crazies riot outside the Goobex spacecraft. Can children read about these things? Of course. They represent reality. However, these images were left hanging and uncommented upon. Thankfully, the author does wrap up all these events, though, putting everything back into place as if they’d never occurred. But the bottom line for me is what started as a fun children’s adventure lost its way by crossing genre lines and perhaps trying to widen its target audience too much. Still, I would definitely read more by this author.