Target Audience: Early Middle-Grade, Ages 6-10
Page Count: 250
Why this story?
This story is what her younger self would have wanted to read. She was drawn to stories with adventure and limitless possibilities. What she feels is different about this book she didn't get with others as a child is a connection to everyday life as well. Went through school problems, went through some of the same family dynamics that she was struggling with, etc., and was all just focused on the adventure of taking the main human character out of their world. Here, she has taken the alien robot out of his world and brought him to earth for the main character Erin to deal with through her everyday life.
Synopsis
Zenaton, a gentle soft-spoken robot alien undergoing his species’ initiation day for the intergalactic military, is assigned the task of destroying Earth. However, he sabotages the laser gun and escapes, causing him to crash-land on the strange planet. Erin, a human girl, mistakes Zenaton for her backpack after getting her real backpack stolen by an angry pack of squirrels on her way to school.
Erin and her friends discover Zenaton’s existence after an attempted escape within her first-period class. After getting over the initial shock of finding a robot alien, Zenaton shares the threat to Earth with the group and they band together to help save the planet despite their differences. Now Erin must conceal Zenaton for the rest of the school day.
Zenaton learns all about what Earth has to offer as Erin sets out to help Zenaton find his watcher, Cen-Q, and confront his evil father in the hope she can save her family, friends, and all of Earth.
When the commander, Volin, and his squad arrive on Earth to bring Zenaton back, Erin and her friends try to help Zenaton defeat Volin and his squad but fail. All are captured and brought upon a spaceship.
Zenaton, with the help of Erin, convinces Zeurenbak, his father, that there is value in Earth and that they can convert human food into energy to power their technology and species instead of destroying the plant and all its life. Then, Erin and all her friends are returned to Earth.
In the end, Zenaton, Erin, and her friends are able to work together to prevent the destruction of Earth, while also finding new possibilities for adventures together.
Character Profiles
Sample Pages
