REVIEW: ALIENS ON VACATION by Clete Barrett Smith

 

This is a perfect middle grade read to interest a young boy or girl. The best thing about a good middle grade read is that it can be enjoyed by everyone and Smith really achieves that with Aliens on Vacation. Scrub is a young teen being taken away from his digital world and summer basketball training, to stay with a Grandmother he barely remembers.

She lives on the outskirts of Washington aka "nowhere" with no cable, Internet or typical teenager food. Grandma however does have a bed and breakfast called The Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast. Scrub soon finds himself surrounded by strange foreign borders, stranger than he knows.

Grandma is running a truly Intergalactic rest stop. Creatures from all across the galaxy are stopping in to experience the small town comforts of Earth. Scrub discovers he has quite the knack for prepping the visitors for their vacation. He also finds himself drawn to young UFO fan Amy and at odds with her father the local Sheriff who has it out for Grandma and her business.

Lots of adventures with several Alien species and a wonderful coming of age story for Scrub.Smith really captures the energy and narrative voice of the characters. They are very genuine characters that you really become involved with, A quick, fun read.