Invasion from Fred

Joey is twelve years old, the age when boys have a hard time figuring things out. Something new has come along to add to his confusion: there's a fire hydrant in the woods that's talking to him. The hydrant is actually an alien from Mars who's assumed that shape. The alien says his name is Mars and calls his home planet Fred. He is on Earth looking to discover his true self and what appearance he should assume for the rest of his life.
Joey enlists his friends, Calvin and Kate, to help the alien find his identity. In the process they get embroiled in an environmental battle over a strip-mining operation. With the help of Joey's grandmother, they learn the values of preserving the environment, and in the end, they actually do manage to prevent an invasion from Fred, or Mars, with the help of a cat named Roscoe.

Invasion from Fred is a Comic fantasy appropriate for middle-grade readers that concerns itself with the issues of coming of age, finding one's identity, the state of the environment, as well as gender and generation gaps.