The True Meaning of Smekday

“A Book from Out of This World”Don’t judge anyone or anything just because they are different. You have probably thought of what it would be like if Aliens took over our planet. What would they look like? What would they do? Could we communicate? In the book The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, all of these questions are answered in Adam Rex’s imagination of what the Aliens are like. We learn that you should judge anything or anyone just because they are different than you. In this book, the Alien species, The Boov, land down on Earth and try to make ‘fair’ agreements with the human race. They decide to give the Americans all of Florida to live in. Gratuity Tucci, the main character, was living just an ordinary life as an 8th grader until her mom was taken by the Boov and brought to Florida. But when Gratuity was left and decided to drive there herself with her cat, she meets an new friend that could help her out a lot along the way. As some of you may know this book was created into a movie, Home. I️ really enjoyed this book and would definitely read it again. I gave this book 5 star for its humor, great descriptions, and it’s creativity. Adam Rex did a great job to add some of everything to this book without overdoing it.There was a lot of parts with humor in this book. Adam Rex worked in some funny parts while still making the book seem serious. This is shown on pages 87-88 where the text read, “ ‘Stupid Boov!’ I shouted, and then the scooter cop was right there.[....]‘It was French’ I said.” This part had humor because Gratuity convinced the Boov cop that she was complimenting his scooter. Another part that was funny was on page 66, “We lay there for a minute, staring at the roof./ ‘I could hum,’ said J.Lo./ ‘Shut up,’ I suggested.” This part was funny because Gratuity’s car broke down and she was really mad. Then J.Lo, Gratuity’s new friend, tried to break the awkward silence by asking if humming would help. In addition, this book had great description of the setting and characters. This really helped me imagine what was happening. On page 54-55 Adam Rex wrote, “As it turned out , the ship that took Mom was one of the little ones. There were ships the size of Rhode Island in the sky over my city,[...] At first they just hung there like jellyfish. But then the jellyfish began taking bites out of things.” This part in the book really helped me imagine the situation they were in. It also helped me imagine what the ships in the sky looked like. A second piece of evidence to help me understand the story with lots of details was on page 3 where the text said, “It was Moving Day, and everyone was crazy. You remember. It was chaos; people running around with armfuls of heirloom china and photo albums, carrying food and water, carrying their dogs and kids because they forgot their dogs and kids could carry themselves. Crazy.” This part really set the base for the story. It showed how the people reacted to the situation without directly telling us all the little details. It told us just enough to show us what it was like. Lastly this book is very creative. It really took a good imagination to come up with all the aspects of this story. It was very well thought out and it all fit very well together. This can be shown on page 169 when it describes the Boov’s God, “The God of Boovworld is not a person, or a ghost, or animal or such. Our God is the sea. she covers most of the planet, still creating and shaping the world.” This shows how they are creative because Adam Rex had to think of not just a God for aliens but also what their planet might be like. He had to combine all of these aspects to make something that fit well with the story. Another piece of evidence is on page 268 where the text described a robot sent from the other alien invaders the gorg, “It was some awful mixture of meat and machine, and I wasn’t at all surprised when J.Lo whispered that it was a robot sent by the gorg. It was green and purple all over, with a back end that formed a round cage.” This took a lot of creativity while it was still very descriptive. He had to create a robot sent from somewhere he had to completely make up. He described it very well to help the reader imagine what it was even though we have never experienced anything like it before. This was a fantastic read and I would recommend it to people of all ages. Though it may be better for younger readers to enjoy, I believe that even an adult could have a fun, interesting read from this book.

An utterly fantastic, highly creative book that both my 9-year-old son and I loved. The story details the adventures of an 11-year-old African-American girl and a friendly alien as they search for the girl's alien-abducted mother on the way to the new subportion of America set aside for humans. The first section is the school essay on "The True Meaning of Smekday" written for a time capsule project, from which the book gets its name ("Smekday" was the date of Earth invasion by the alien Boov).Who can resist a heroine who, after aliens steal her mother, teaches herself to drive by nailing cans of corn to the bottom of her church shoes? Or her companion, who can fix almost anything but makes their car's air-conditioning useless because he can't keep from drinking the delicious freon?My son especially enjoyed the alien's illustrated stories of how the Boov learned to breathe air, how they made it to outer space, and the "Werefor You Knowing It?" (Did you know?) random factoids about a second alien race who has come to conquer the Earth as well.This book is very funny, both directly and via the use of satire and irony, and very absorbing. I finished it, went to see what else the author had written (he's an illustrator, and this is his first major novel), and then immediately began rereading it. My son and I still quote portions of the book at each other, several weeks later, and my husband is next in line to read this.I cannot recommend this enough, especially for fans of humor and/or fantasy. What a delightful surprise!

Overall Review: The True Meaning of Smekday is not your average alien takeover story. It's told from the point of view of an eleven year old girl writing an essay for a contest. That said, this is more like War of the Worlds meets E.T., complete with the alien in a `ghost' costume (old sheet with holes) and absolutely no one notices that it doesn't remotely resemble a human! The aliens have taken over the world, and eleven year old Gratuity just wants to find her mom. On her way to Florida to the `humanskind preserve', she meets J.Lo--a boy alien that's in a little trouble from his kind. By an unfortunate accident, some even bigger and meaner aliens are called down, and it's time to step it up a notch to save the world! Gratuity and J.Lo team up, and their antics are hilarious! Their conversations even more so! J.Lo to speaks in not so good English and does not to understandings always the Gratuity. They are always talking in circles with each other. It was great fun! J.Lo was a very endearing little creature and I just loved the little guy! These two meet a great cast of characters along the way such as Chief Shouting Bear (aka Frank) who owns the Area 51 spaceship, Mitch, the guy in the missing persons bureau who always talks in questions?, and Daniel Landry who may not be the fantastically great guy everyone seems to think he is--but they need leaders and he's rich, so that must make him a good leader! The future looks dim for the humans and it seems like the new and improved group of aliens may just win the day...except for a little glitch in their nature that Gratuity figures out! Even if it has a few small loose ends in some of the subplots, The True Meaning of Smekday fulfills its purpose as a fun and wacky recreational read for younger teens. Overall rating is 4 out of 5 stars!Content Review:PROFANITY: Some mild instancesVIOLENCE: Some mild instances throughoutSEXUAL CONTENT: A few mild instancesMATURE THEMES: MildRECOMMENDED AGE GROUP: 12+Since this is supposed to be an essay written by a twelve year old (about her experiences as an eleven year old), it's relatively clean. There are some instances of profanity--and after every single one, she says, "pardon my language". The alien swears in his native language and says, "pardon my language" as well, and that's funny. There is also one character in the story who swears a lot--but the narrator mentions that she didn't like this, so she writes `bleep' in his sentences instead of the swear words. There are a few crude references, as well, by some characters. As far as sexual content, there are some vague discussions about babies of the different races and how they're made/raised. It's not graphic. Some characters think the aliens are there to impregnate the humans (the narrator says they should at least get married first). Again, this is not graphic or uncomfortable, but there is a short discussion. There are also two different groups of boys who have formed some sort of club and work really hard to make their acronym spell `boob' just so they can giggle. There are many different forms of violence, such as shootings, destruction and kidnappings. Some aliens set fire to an entire city. One alien hits a human and knocks him out. A group of aliens hunt cats. There are shootings and lootings in most of the cities. Many characters are abducted by the aliens for different tasks such as folding the laundry and tutoring in English, and those left behind are worried and frightened. There are also themes such as hostile takeovers, destruction of cities/people, the ethics of one group `discovering' the new land and pushing out those who already live there, and being on your own and alone. On the whole The True Meaning of Smekday is a Clean Read for ages 12+.This review was written by EmilyA Squeaky Clean Reads Book ReviewerToo see more fantastic books reviewed with content in mind, visit us at squeakycleanreads!!

Was a gift

This book is good and nothing like the film. Took a while to read it but that wasn't a problem for me.

This was a verys good book. I would have given 5 stars if Tip hadn'ts died at the end. This is a book for any HOME lover. R.I.P Tip

It is an awesome book for the ages 10 - 12. It is a must to buy this book. If you have seen the movie home then you will enjoy the book more.

Fun book with original concept. The movie "based" on this book has almost zero to do with the story ("Home"). The movie Home was dreadful, babyish and boring. The book is original, sophisticated, complex, and very very funny.I can't rate it high enough for kids and adults alike. Just plain fun.