Night of the Aliens

Barbara M. Buetter conducts creative-writing workshops for children and
is the author of Simple Puppets from Everyday Materials.

Mark Jensen can never do anything right. When he is asked to help aliens
from a dying planet, he questions what he can do. He is transported to
Detsaw, once beautiful but now a polluted wasteland. Its surviving
inhabitants, having chosen Earth as a new home, need Mark’s help in
learning how to act like Earth’s teenagers.

Mark finds he is a good teacher and makes new friends. He can survive
only a few days on Detsaw, however, and must pilot a ship alone to
return home. To do this, he must overcome his fears and learn to rely on
himself. He succeeds, thanks to his newfound confidence. Back home, he
begins to question whether his adventure was real or imagined. Readers
will reach their own conclusions about the surprise ending, but we are
left with feelings of hope and happiness.

Young readers of this action-packed science-fiction adventure will
appreciate the intriguing cover illustration and the alien names for
planets: Neerg, for Earth; Detsaw, the wasted alien planet; and Sloof,
the planet of fools. The story’s strong environmental message is
balanced by Mark’s amusing slant on life. Recommended.