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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607002737412 | Juvenile Fiction | SCIESZK | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
The perfect combination of the age old experience of holding and poring over a physical book with newest media technology that kids love!
Michael K. just started fifth grade at a new school. As if that wasn't hard enough, the kids he seems to have made friends with apparently aren't kids at all. They are aliens. Real aliens who have invaded our planet in the form of school children and a hamster. They have a mission to complete: to convince 3,140,001 kids to BE SPHDZ. But with a hamster as their leader, "kids" who talk like walking advertisements, and Michael K as their first convert, will the SPHDZ be able to keep their cover and pull off their assignment?
Author Notes
Jon Scieszka was born September 8, 1954 in Flint , Michigan. After he graduated from Culver Military Academy where he was a Lieutenant, he studied to be a doctor at Albion College. He changed career directions and attended Columbia University where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1980. Before he became a full time writer, Scieszka was a lifeguard, painted factories, houses, and apartments and also wrote for magazines. He taught elementary school in New York for ten years as a 1st grade assistant, a 2nd grade homeroom teacher, and a computer, math, science and history teacher in 3rd - 8th grade.
He decided to take off a year from teaching in order to work with Lane Smith, an illustrator, to develop ideas for children's books. His book, The Stinky Cheese Man received the 1994 Rhode Island Children's Book Award. Scieszka's Math Curse, illustrated by Lane Smith, was an American Library Association Notable Book in 1996; a Blue Ribbon Book from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books in 1995; and a Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book in 1995. The Stinky Cheese Man received Georgia's 1997 Children's Choice Award and Wisconsin's The Golden Archer Award. Math Curse received Maine's Student Book Award, The Texas Bluebonnet Award and New Hampshire's The Great Stone Face Book Award in 1997. He was appointed the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress in 2008. In 2014 his title, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor made The New York Times Best Seller List. Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger made the list in 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Although this humorous story is science fiction/fantasy, the setting and characters keep it grounded in reality. On his first day in a new school, fifth-grader Michael is befriended by two weird kids who turn out to be aliens. The text and numerous black-and-white drawings combine in an energetic layout, and accompanying websites add to the zaniness. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Michael K. (nudge nudge, young Kafka fans) is hoping for a smooth transition as he starts fifth grade at a new school in Brooklyn. But things go downhill when two weirdoes named Jennifer and Bob glom onto him, revealing that they're aliens from the planet Spaceheadz; their leader is the class hamster; and they believe Michael K. can lead 3.14 million Earth kids in a movement to save the planet from being "turned off." Additionally, they must deal with a haplessly persistent agent with the Anti Alien Agency (motto: "To Protect, and to Serve, and to Always Look Up"). To get the full experience, readers can log on to a number of Web sites woven into the story: antialienagency.com, for example, is a funny spoof of a government site. But while Michael K. makes an appealing fish out of water, the story, parceled out in bite-size chapters, feels both padded and flat. And the central running joke-that Bob and Jennifer talk like TV commercials-comes across as recycled material from a Saturday Night Live Coneheads skit. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 7-10. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Excerpts
Excerpts
Michael K. knew his first day in a new school in a new city was going to be weird. How could a first day at someplace in Brooklyn, New York, called P.S. 858 not be weird? He just had no idea it could be this weird. Michael K. had been in fifth grade for only twenty minutes, and already Mrs. Halley had stuck him in the slow group with the two strange new kids, the new girl had eaten half of his only pencil, and the new boy had just told Michael K. that they were Spaceheadz from another planet. "Uh, yeah," said Michael K. "I just moved here too." The girl flexed an arm. " SMACKDOWN ," she said in a voice like a wrestling announcer. "Very nice." Michael K. nodded. Sure, he was a new kid too. But these other new kids were seriously creeping him out. He did not want to get stuck with these losers on the first day of school. It could ruin his whole life. The boy nodded back. " JUST DO IT. " The girl drew on her Star Wars lunch box: This was getting beyond weird. "Michael K., I'M LOVING IT! " said the boy. "We need your help. You must become a . Save your world. I am Bob." "Jennifer," said the girl in that deep, echoing voice. Michael K. watched Jennifer crunch the last of his Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2. How did this new kid Bob know his name? Michael K. hadn't said it. What did he mean, "save your world"? Were they just messing with him? Yeah, that was it. They were just goofing around. Michael K. decided he would goof right back . . . then move his seat as far away from them as possible. "I get it," said Michael K. "You are Spaceheadz from another planet. On a mission to Earth. Here to take over the world. Take me to your leader. Bzzt, bzzzt." "See! I told you, Jennifer!" said Bob. "Michael K. can do anything! He is like a rock. MMM, MMM GOOD ." Jennifer burped up the eraser from Michael K.'s only pencil. She spit it out. "-- GET RRRREADY TO RRRRRUMBLE ," said Jennifer. "Eeek eek," said the class hamster. Room 501-B went silent except for the sound of Mrs. Halley writing on the chalkboard. The thought occurred to Michael K. that Bob and Jennifer were not joking. The thought occurred to Michael K. that they really were Spaceheadz from another planet. The thought exploded in Michael K.'s head that those thoughts were ridiculous. Aliens don't invade fifth-grade classrooms. They don't look like fifth graders. And they don't talk like commercials and pro wrestlers. Bob and Jennifer were probably just from somewhere else. And kind of confused. Right. Right? © 2010 Jon Scieszka Excerpted from Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.