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katykelly 's review for:
See You in the Cosmos
by Jack Cheng
Unique narration, very moving story for children about family and friendship... and space
Such a different idea - the entire narration is made up of audio recordings. Recordings that the main character is putting together to be blasted into space in a rocket he's making, as a record of life on Earth for the aliens who will one day discover them.
Alex constantly talks into his iPod about his life, his mum, his space obsessions, his dog (Carl Sagan). One day soon it will be heard by alien lifeforms. Alex is obsessed with building a rocket and entering it in a competition. With his mum having one of her many 'quiet' days, he takes his homemade rocket, his iPod, his dog, and travels across the country to the competition... Alex is 11. That's not going to stop him.
This is only the start of Alex's story - as you'd expect he meets a variety of characters along the way, and the story takes a few turns as we end up looking back at Alex's life and the story he tells us, understanding more about it as he filters it through his 11-year-old brain. It's a story with an unreliable narrator but also because it's a 'recording' it ISN'T unreliable - we hear other voices, we get to delve into the whole story as it unfolds and others talk to us as well.
A fantastic device, we listen to characters' voices directly, and live their lives as they are going on, but also hear what has happened before, and miss things that we then need catching up on, just as some of them do. Yet this doesn't make it hard to follow. I would say this style will make it of great interest to young readers.
Alex is a very unusual boy, incredibly intelligent (which some readers may have trouble relating to) and obsessed with space, but with a family life that an upper primary or lower secondary class will find fascinating to read about or discuss.
He's such a lovely boy, and his situation, as we find out what is really happening, is heart-breaking at times, though I loved how it brought so many rather wonderful characters together.
A very sweet story, with a unique narration, ultimately uplifting and a great choice for ages 9-13.
With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-copy.
Such a different idea - the entire narration is made up of audio recordings. Recordings that the main character is putting together to be blasted into space in a rocket he's making, as a record of life on Earth for the aliens who will one day discover them.
Alex constantly talks into his iPod about his life, his mum, his space obsessions, his dog (Carl Sagan). One day soon it will be heard by alien lifeforms. Alex is obsessed with building a rocket and entering it in a competition. With his mum having one of her many 'quiet' days, he takes his homemade rocket, his iPod, his dog, and travels across the country to the competition... Alex is 11. That's not going to stop him.
This is only the start of Alex's story - as you'd expect he meets a variety of characters along the way, and the story takes a few turns as we end up looking back at Alex's life and the story he tells us, understanding more about it as he filters it through his 11-year-old brain. It's a story with an unreliable narrator but also because it's a 'recording' it ISN'T unreliable - we hear other voices, we get to delve into the whole story as it unfolds and others talk to us as well.
A fantastic device, we listen to characters' voices directly, and live their lives as they are going on, but also hear what has happened before, and miss things that we then need catching up on, just as some of them do. Yet this doesn't make it hard to follow. I would say this style will make it of great interest to young readers.
Alex is a very unusual boy, incredibly intelligent (which some readers may have trouble relating to) and obsessed with space, but with a family life that an upper primary or lower secondary class will find fascinating to read about or discuss.
He's such a lovely boy, and his situation, as we find out what is really happening, is heart-breaking at times, though I loved how it brought so many rather wonderful characters together.
A very sweet story, with a unique narration, ultimately uplifting and a great choice for ages 9-13.
With thanks to Netgalley for the advance e-copy.