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dgbrns96 's review for:
See You in the Cosmos
by Jack Cheng
Rating: 4.6/5 (A)
I just wanna start off by saying how cute Alex Petroski's character is! I've never read a more compelling kid since Auggie from Wonder. He loves astronomy and rockets. He's pretty smart yet oblivious. He embodies sweet childhood innocence and I wish I can have a friend like him.
The story is about 11-year-old Filipino-American Alex Petroski, his dog, Carl Sagan—named for his hero—and his adventures along the southwestern United States. All he wanted to do is launch a rocket that contains his Golden iPod filled with a series of audio recordings and fly it through other space. He wanted to show other life-forms what life on Earth—his Earth—is really like. Journeying through Colorado, New Mexico, to Las Vegas to Los Angeles, he meets remarkable people that led him to uncover the secrets of his life: a long dead father, a troubled mom, and a mostly not-around brother.
The book dives deep in the theme of Truthfulness and how it is unhealthy to hide secrets, especially from a young boy, even if they really can’t understand them yet. Alex’s dog is named after a real-life astronomer, Carl Sagan, in which Alex sees him as a hero. Sagan once said that, “the truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.” This solidifies Alex’s view on truthfulness and honesty even when it was hard to accept or understand and that it can never be substituted with ‘happy lies.’ According to Alex, “knowledge is better than ignorance, and it’s better to find out and embrace the truth even if that truth might not feel good.”
This is Jack Cheng’s first book for young readers and it deserves a high place in the cosmos for its moving main character and a wild and funny plot that inspires us to have hope, love, and understanding.
I just wanna start off by saying how cute Alex Petroski's character is! I've never read a more compelling kid since Auggie from Wonder. He loves astronomy and rockets. He's pretty smart yet oblivious. He embodies sweet childhood innocence and I wish I can have a friend like him.
The story is about 11-year-old Filipino-American Alex Petroski, his dog, Carl Sagan—named for his hero—and his adventures along the southwestern United States. All he wanted to do is launch a rocket that contains his Golden iPod filled with a series of audio recordings and fly it through other space. He wanted to show other life-forms what life on Earth—his Earth—is really like. Journeying through Colorado, New Mexico, to Las Vegas to Los Angeles, he meets remarkable people that led him to uncover the secrets of his life: a long dead father, a troubled mom, and a mostly not-around brother.
The book dives deep in the theme of Truthfulness and how it is unhealthy to hide secrets, especially from a young boy, even if they really can’t understand them yet. Alex’s dog is named after a real-life astronomer, Carl Sagan, in which Alex sees him as a hero. Sagan once said that, “the truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.” This solidifies Alex’s view on truthfulness and honesty even when it was hard to accept or understand and that it can never be substituted with ‘happy lies.’ According to Alex, “knowledge is better than ignorance, and it’s better to find out and embrace the truth even if that truth might not feel good.”
This is Jack Cheng’s first book for young readers and it deserves a high place in the cosmos for its moving main character and a wild and funny plot that inspires us to have hope, love, and understanding.