Your Alien

by Tammi Sauer, Goro Fujita (Illustrator)

Overview

A little boy meets a stranded alien child and the two instantly strike up a fabulous friendship. They go to school, explore the neighborhood, and have lots of fun all day. However, when bedtime rolls around, the little boy must comfort his homesick new friend. This funny, heartwarming story proves that friends and family are the most important things in the universe . . . no matter who or where you are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454911296
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	664,095
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD510L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tammi Sauer is the author of Sterling Publishing’s But the Bear Came Back, Caring for Your Lion, Chicken Dance, Cowboy Camp, Mary Had a Little Glam, Your Alien Returns, and Your Alien, which earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. She is an active blogger (tammisauer.com) and highly involved in the children's writer community. Tammi has worked as a teacher and library media specialist and now lives in OK with her husband and their two children. Her local indie bookstore, Best of Books, in Edmond, OK, has named July 9 Tammi Sauer Day. Follow her on Twitter at @SauerTammi.

Goro Fujita is an art director, illustrator, and animator based in the Bay Area, CA. His experience ranges from book illustration, animated TV commercials, and feature films to art-directing virtual-reality experiences. Visit him online at area-56.de.

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/25/2015
It’s best-friendship at first contact after a flying saucer crashes outside a boy’s house, and a Little Green Man with a white jumpsuit and a snaggletoothed smile emerges. In second-person narration that has an understated tenderness, Sauer (Nugget and Fang) follows the two through the day. The boy’s parents don’t notice the new arrival, his classmates are mesmerized, and “As for your teacher? She’ll think she needs new glasses.” Beyond the evident warmth Fujita (the Robots Rule series) creates between alien and boy, he has a real way with light; the passage of time is almost tangible in the way sunlight streams through windows or wanes as the friends race down a hill flying a kite. And when the alien’s homesickness sets in, it’s light—specifically every light in the boy’s house, as well as “a few extras here and there” (think Christmas in July)—that attracts the attention of two green parents eager to find their child. Not since E.T. has extraterrestrial entertainment stood such a good chance of making kids (and their parents) tear up. Ages 3–up. Author’s agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2015-06-16
Even aliens need hugs! "You will be looking out your window when something wonderful comes your way." That something is a small, green, tentacled, and impossibly cute alien making a poor landing in a spacecraft. Of course, the Caucasian boy stand-in for "you" wants to keep him. Fortunately his distracted parents don't notice what they are agreeing to. The alien enjoys school (though the class bunny makes him nervous). He helps his human friend see the world in new ways…but before long, the boy notices his alien wistfully staring out the window. Nothing seems to make him happy, but a hug helps a little (and gives the boy a clue to what might be wrong with his new friend). Turning all the house lights on draws attention from outer space, and "the reunion scene will be out of this world." After waving goodbye to his little green buddy, it's the boy who is wistful. Fortunately, something wonderful (in the form of parental hugging) comes his way again. Sauer's sweet tale of interplanetary friendship makes terrific use of second-person narration. Young listeners will identify with the young protagonist whether they have dreamed of having an alien best friend or not (but really, who hasn't?). Fujita's digitally created cartoon illustrations have the appearance of acrylic paintings and augment the gentle humor of the simple tale.Will likely inspire preschoolers to stare hopefully heavenward looking for their own close encounters. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the picture book edition of Your Alien

"Not since E.T. has extraterrestrial entertainment stood such a good chance of making kids (and their parents) tear up.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A tender and playful look at the meaning of home." —School Library Journal
 
An NPR Best Book of 2015

From the Publisher