Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Sputnik's Guide to Life on Earth by award-winning author Frank Cottrell Boyce, with illustrations by Steven Lenton, will send your imagination into orbit!
The Blythes are a big, warm, rambunctious family who live on a small farm and sometimes foster children. Now Prez has come to live with them. But, though he seems cheerful and helpful, he never says a word.
Then one day Prez answers the door to someone claiming to be his relative. This small, loud stranger carries a backpack, walks with a swagger and goes by the name of Sputnik. As Prez dithers on the doorstep, Sputnik strolls right past him and introduces himself to everyone in the household. Prez is amazed at the response. The family pat Sputnik on the head, call him a good boy and drop food into his mouth. It seems they all think Sputnik is a dog.
PRAISE FOR SPUTNIK'S GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTH
"Light-hearted and profound" Sunday Times Book of the Week
"Wholly original and exceptionally funny" Bookseller Book of the Month
"A touching tale...with wild humour and panache"
The Telegraph
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
