My 10 year-old's teacher is doing to a great job exposing the children to all sorts of literature. And as one of the scifi books she has chosen "Stinker From Space".
The story is about an alien named Tsynq Yr. He's a 'crack space pilot' with the Sylon Confederacy, but while on a mission he's forced to crash land on earth after the Zarnk cruiser destroys his ship.
The crash is a bad one and as he lays dying, he realizes that his only chance is to take over another creature's body. All that is around is a worm -- not handy-- and a skunk that wanders by. That's how 'Stinker' is created.
Humans become involved when Stinker finds Karen, a young girl who's out playing in the woods. Karen's a bit surprised when she finds an alien talking to her in her head, but she quickly gets over it and befriends the little fellow.
To devise a rescue plan they need the boy down the road. Jonathan is all into Star Wars and the Space Shuttle, which is a good thing because Stinker's devised a plan to... um, borrow it so he can get home.
"Stinker from Space" is funny and remarkably well written. The author never 'writes down' to children nor does she cut corners when it comes to plotting. There is the expected skunk-humor but also much more.
I'd say this is a rather nice introduction to science fiction for children. No language. Some very mild violence. No adult situations.
The story is about an alien named Tsynq Yr. He's a 'crack space pilot' with the Sylon Confederacy, but while on a mission he's forced to crash land on earth after the Zarnk cruiser destroys his ship.
The crash is a bad one and as he lays dying, he realizes that his only chance is to take over another creature's body. All that is around is a worm -- not handy-- and a skunk that wanders by. That's how 'Stinker' is created.
Humans become involved when Stinker finds Karen, a young girl who's out playing in the woods. Karen's a bit surprised when she finds an alien talking to her in her head, but she quickly gets over it and befriends the little fellow.
To devise a rescue plan they need the boy down the road. Jonathan is all into Star Wars and the Space Shuttle, which is a good thing because Stinker's devised a plan to... um, borrow it so he can get home.
"Stinker from Space" is funny and remarkably well written. The author never 'writes down' to children nor does she cut corners when it comes to plotting. There is the expected skunk-humor but also much more.
I'd say this is a rather nice introduction to science fiction for children. No language. Some very mild violence. No adult situations.
Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs
STINKER FROM SPACE
by Pamela Service
3.62 Stars from 95 GoodReaders
Reading Information:
Word Count: 16,208
Page Count:
Accelerated Reading level: 5.1 / points: 2.0
AR quiz: 582
Reading Counts!: 5.3 / points:6.0
Lexile: 820L
updated August 2013
2 comments :
I love this book! Service also wrote Stinker's Return, a follow-up story. They're delightful 80s children's SF.
I'm hoping we get to more of Service's books this summer. I think her plotting is well done.
Post a Comment