Scan barcode
A review by abigailbat
Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka
1.0
What the... what?
I was so excited about this book, but now I'm just... confused. Michael K, new kid in school, gets stuck sitting with two very weird also-new kids in his fifth grade class. They keep telling him they're aliens (Spaceheadz, actually) and that they have to get 3.14 million people to become SPHDZ or the Earth will be turned off. Their only knowledge of the Earth is from commercials and television, so that's their frame of reference.
I can get on board with the wacky. That's not my thing, really, but I know some kids go gaga for it. My problem is that it feels like half a story. And I know that it's the first book in a series, but... nothing really happened. We met the characters. They had some hijinx. And then it ended. There's no real urgency, "turning the Earth off" is never explained. I don't even really get what SPHDZ is (is it just shorthand for "Spaceheadz"?).
Kids may still read it - it's got a good cover and an interesting premise and maybe they'll laugh at all the toilet paper, pickle phones, and head injuries. But I'm still just saying "What the... what?"
**Important to note is that I'm reviewing from an ARC without the final artwork. Maybe the art will help me understand it?**
I was so excited about this book, but now I'm just... confused. Michael K, new kid in school, gets stuck sitting with two very weird also-new kids in his fifth grade class. They keep telling him they're aliens (Spaceheadz, actually) and that they have to get 3.14 million people to become SPHDZ or the Earth will be turned off. Their only knowledge of the Earth is from commercials and television, so that's their frame of reference.
I can get on board with the wacky. That's not my thing, really, but I know some kids go gaga for it. My problem is that it feels like half a story. And I know that it's the first book in a series, but... nothing really happened. We met the characters. They had some hijinx. And then it ended. There's no real urgency, "turning the Earth off" is never explained. I don't even really get what SPHDZ is (is it just shorthand for "Spaceheadz"?).
Kids may still read it - it's got a good cover and an interesting premise and maybe they'll laugh at all the toilet paper, pickle phones, and head injuries. But I'm still just saying "What the... what?"
**Important to note is that I'm reviewing from an ARC without the final artwork. Maybe the art will help me understand it?**