Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
It all starts with a school essay. When twelve-year-old Gratuity ("Tip") Tucci is assigned to write five pages on "The True Meaning of Smekday" for the National Time Capsule contest, she's not sure where to begin. When her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended on the Earth and the aliens - called Boov - abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it "Smekland" (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod? In any case, Gratuity's story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo.; a futile journey south to find Gratuity's mother at the Happy Mouse Kingdom; a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious; and an outrageous plan to save the Earth from yet another alien invasion. Fully illustrated with "photos," drawings, newspaper clippings, and comics sequences, this is a hilarious, perceptive, genre-bending novel by a remarkable new talent.
Is The True Meaning of Smekday appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
Parents should know this humorous middle grade novel features alien invasion and colonization themes, with a child separated from her abducted mother. The peril is mild and played for humor, with no graphic content.
What to know going in
This book has mild violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include kidnapping, abandonment, and colonization.
Who'll love this
Kids will love this funny, illustrated adventure about a brave girl and her alien friend taking a wild road trip to save Earth from invaders.