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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9781416903314
ISBN number: 1416903313
Label: Aladdin
Manufacturer: Aladdin
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 176
Printing Date: June 21, 2005
Publishing house: Aladdin
Age index: Ages 9-12
Sale Popularity Level: 107356
Studio: Aladdin
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Alien Invasion of Earth!
Peter Thompson, a typical seventh-grader, finds himself touring the planet with his friends Susan Simmons and Duncan Dougal, and three aliens in disguise!
Their mission? To file the final report that will determine Earth's future in the universe.
As the clock ticks away the hours before their meeting in space, the tour becomes weirder and weirder. The three friends come face-to-face with a plague of poots and 'Big Julie' -- the weirdest alien yet!
Meanwhile Peter discovers a secret that was hidden for decades. Will his discovery save Earth, or isi it already too late to stop the aliens from destroying the planet?
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Rated by buyers 
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My daughters loved it. laughed out loud, AND they get credit for it as an AR book at school! Fantastic!
Rated by buyers -
This was an incredible ending to a fun series that was started with My Teacher is an Alien. While it remained fun, it was also much more intense, like ice water suddenly dumped on you unexpectedly.
But I think it's "kid safe." As a child I saw Return to Oz and had horrid nightmares; by the age of 10 I read a short horror story for adults where I find out that the man telling the story is insane and his family is dead and I broke out in tears. Yet as sensitive as I was, this book did not cause a severe reaction, but pulled me in with its shocking surprises, both hopeful and horrid. Bruce Coville has done a truly amazing job at making the horrors of the world accessible to kids (though probably not younger than 10) without being either traumatizing or patronizing about it, though he did (thankfully) gloss over some of the worse parts. (Example: "What had already been done to those people was so ugly I cannot bring myself to describe it, even though the memory of it remains like a scar burned into my brain with a hot iron.")
Furthermore, I would add that this is not a book promoting any ideology. This doesn't encourage your children to grow up and vote Democrat or Republican, or embrace socialism or libertarianism. This is a book promoting VALUES. And contrary to the propaganda of many ideologues and Party Pushers, values and ideology are two completely different things.
All ideologies, to my knowledge, explain the ways that they think are best for solving the problems Coville brings up. But values determine what gets done; ideology detemines how it gets done. A revolution that changes ideology but not values will only change the HOW things get done, not WHAT gets done. Even functioning anarchies (communes, tribal, even regions like Barcelona in the Spanish Civil War) show that the values that are shared by a community will be displayed, no matter what system is in place.
If I get into an ideological debate with someone who shares the same values as I do, then what we're debating is the best way to solve the same problem, not debating if the problem exists or how important it is. I also find that I much prefer the company of people who have different political leanings from myself but share my values to those who share my political leanings but not my values. I think that Bruce Coville, intentionally or unintentionally, has also expressed this view ("...not the leaders, not the government, just the people..."). Which is to say, don't fear that your child will be brainwashed into serving some political agenda, though Coville might get help your child to care in the very first place.
Finally, the book does show much that is noble and good about humanity, too. I found it to be ultimately hopeful, if sobering.
In many ways, it's a child's version of Carl Sagan's Contact. While Contact has a credible alien society, IMO, My Teacher Flunked the Planet has entertaining aliens. But both books help us, kid or adult, look seriously at the insanity of our planet's societies, and also the hope.
Rated by buyers 
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Pro: this was an exciting, interesting book. I enjoyed reading it and re-reading it.
Con: Bruce Coville can get very preachy at times. In this book we look at the worst of humanity, and he makes it sound like all of humanity is a terrible violent monsters. But while there are horrible things in the world, you must realize they are showing us the worst-there are better! And with all the no doubt millions of alien races, we're the worst of the worst? Yeah, right. I especially hate it when he talks about the television as if it serves to purpose other than to turn our brain into swiss cheese.
If you can get over the self-righteousness and the pessimism about the human race, this is a lovely book.
Rated by buyers 
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I have to admit I was a little disappointed in this concluding story in Bruce Coville's My Alien series. This is a much more serious book than its predecessors, conveying a strong message about human society today. While it addresses important issues such as war, poverty, starvation, and other social ills, it comes off as a tad preachy in places. The fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, and it is up to the series' three young heroes to convince a worried Interplanetary Council that the planet should be spared. Susan Simmons, Duncan Dougal, and Peter Thompson come together as a complete unit for the very first time, each having previously narrated his/her own account of the events and discoveries leading up to the ultimate final challenge. Susan has exposed her new teacher as a reptilian alien on a mission to "kidnap" five students for study, Duncan has gone from slow-witted bully to a nice, highly intelligent young man after having his brains "fried," and Peter has traveled into the depths of space and met all manner of alien creatures. With the help of a few human-friendly aliens, they now face the largest challenge conceivable: proving to the leaders of the galaxy that all hope for humanity's mending its wicked ways is not lost. If they fail, the Earth will be destroyed in much the same way harmful bacteria are eradicated before they can spread their harmful influence beyond the localized area in which they are currently festering.
Things aren't looking very good for life on Earth; traveling in disguise back on their home planet, our team gets a close-up look at many of mankind's worst ills, and even the kids are often at a loss as to how to defend a people who do such terrible things to one another. All of this is well and good (albeit a little too preachy), but the conclusion of the story (and thus of the whole series) was a let-down. The big climax is more of a hit-and-run than a well-executed denouement, leaving me looking down for the rug that Coville pulled from under my feet at the last minute. It's still an impressive final book in a very entertaining series, but I just expected something more. While this book is by far the most important of the series, incorporating issues that some young readers may not have a full grasp on yet, it is far less entertaining and amusing than the very first three books. For a youngster ready to make the move to more serious children's fiction, though, My Teacher Flunked the Planet stands as a gateway to a world where learning takes its place alongside pure entertainment.
Rated by buyers -
Many science fiction books that are written for children aim to take them away into a fantasy land where anything can happen. Not this one. This story takes a hopeful mind back to the grim reality of the planet we live in, with all its violence, disease, and emotional pain presented in the book the way it really is. A continuation to a trilogy of somewhat less exciting books, My Teacher Flunked the Planet shows its readers how truly perverse and ignorant we ALL are, and shows that even those characters who believe they are above it all (some of the aliens) have as many flaws of their own as do we "barbaric" humans. I too noticed the strong liberal political messages in the book, after I had read it through several times. But even those who do not agree with Coville's political ambitions should be able to readily enjoy this book for its raw imaginary excitement.
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