Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A foster boy learns that home is always closer than he thinks.Ever since his increasingly senile granddad was taken away to "get sorted out," Prez Mellows has been living in Children's Temporary Accommodation. This summer, however, he's staying with the loving and rambunctious Blythe family on their farm. The structure and daily chores give Prez's life a sense of normalcy, but the arrival of a cigar-smoking, gravity-surfing extraterrestrial named Sputnik destabilizes Prez's new routine. According to Sputnik, everyone in the universe has a mission, and Sputnik's is to save Prez by saving Earth from Planetary Clearance. To do this, they must find 10 things that make Earth worth saving. Part of the book's hilarity lies in the fact that Sputnik appears as a dog to everyone except Prez, who sees a funny-looking kid in a kilt and aviator goggles. Fortunately, Sputnik can read Prez's mind, thus saving the boy from looking like he's holding lengthy conversations with a dog. From a destructive lightsaber incident at a 5-year-old's birthday party through a speed-of-light joy ride on a digger to Hadrian's Wall to a major jailbreak fail, belly laughs are central to the action. The overall themes of home, family, and one's place in the universe are reflected in moments of quiet sweetness. The narrative assumes a white default. A raucous adventure with a heart of gold. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

A foster boy learns that home is always closer than he thinks.Ever since his increasingly senile granddad was taken away to "get sorted out," Prez Mellows has been living in Children's Temporary Accommodation. This summer, however, he's staying with the loving and rambunctious Blythe family on their farm. The structure and daily chores give Prez's life a sense of normalcy, but the arrival of a cigar-smoking, gravity-surfing extraterrestrial named Sputnik destabilizes Prez's new routine. According to Sputnik, everyone in the universe has a mission, and Sputnik's is to save Prez by saving Earth from Planetary Clearance. To do this, they must find 10 things that make Earth worth saving. Part of the book's hilarity lies in the fact that Sputnik appears as a dog to everyone except Prez, who sees a funny-looking kid in a kilt and aviator goggles. Fortunately, Sputnik can read Prez's mind, thus saving the boy from looking like he's holding lengthy conversations with a dog. From a destructive lightsaber incident at a 5-year-old's birthday party through a speed-of-light joy ride on a digger to Hadrian's Wall to a major jailbreak fail, belly laughs are central to the action. The overall themes of home, family, and one's place in the universe are reflected in moments of quiet sweetness. The narrative assumes a white default. A raucous adventure with a heart of gold. (Fantasy. 8-13)

Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Starred Review Prez keeps his bag packed, positive that his grandfather will pick him up from the Children's Temporary Accommodation at any moment. But until Granddad gets out of jail, Prez will be spending the summer at the Blythe family's farm. He has barely arrived when a peculiar individual sporting a kilt and flight goggles appears at the door: Sputnik Mellows. He, too, is welcomed by the Blythes, who are somehow under the impression that he is a dog ndshakes all around! Still more curious, Sputnik can read Prez's thoughts, a useful skill when dealing with a voluntary mute like Prez. How is all this possible? Sputnik is an alien, and quite a charming one at that, and he needs Prez's help saving Earth from destruction. If, by the end of summer, the pair of them can come up with 10 things worth seeing r an interplanetary guidebook e planet will be saved. Boyce's (Cosmic, 2008) newest is by turns hilarious and earnest. Sputnik's zany energy and role as clueless tourist produce laugh-out-loud scenarios and turn everyday objects into things of wonder u'll never look at a remote control the same way again. On the flip side, he helps Prez find his voice and come to terms with hard truths about his grandfather. A stellar exploration of the meaning of home and the earthly wonders all around us.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Prez Mellows lives with his increasingly forgetful grandfather until an incident that results in Granddad being sent away to be -sorted out.- Prez, electively mute, is taken in by the Blythes, a raucous farm family on Scotland-s southern border. Though the premise sounds grim, Boyce-s (The Astounding Broccoli Boy) story is anything but, and it-s kick-started by the arrival of Sputnik, a being visible to Prez as a -wee alien in a kilt and goggles,- and to everyone else as an adorable and exceedingly clever dog. Sputnik-s mission is to save Earth from impending doom by finding 10 worthy things about the planet to update a guidebook, originally written by Laika, the Russian space dog. His advanced knowledge of scientific principles combines with a penchant for mischief to produce an avalanche of kooky mayhem (working lightsabers are involved). It-s a funny and touching story about a boy who, through a transformative summer, learns to expand his definitions of family and home. -Home-s not a building,- as Sputnik tells Prez. -Home is other people, isn-t it?- Ages 8-12. (June)

Horn Book

Prez (who's in foster care--just until Granddad gets "sorted out" in a nursing home) joins alien Sputnik on a mission to find ten things worth saving Earth from destruction. A madcap series of cinematic action sequences provides nine things; with the tenth, the novel finds its philosophical bearings. The characters bond as Prez searches for his beloved granddad and Sputnik strives to save the world that contains them.