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FindingJane
Dec 04, 2015FindingJane rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The Boov are under the impression that humans are a foolish, child-like, inferior race, one that needs their gentle, loving hands to take guide and care of them. Most of them don’t learn differently…but one Boov is about to get an education. In this viewpoint on what an alien invasion would be like, the author takes us into the mind of one determined Gratuity “Tip” Tucci, an 11-year-old girl separated from her mother by the hated Boov and willing to cross the entire state to get her back. The book is many things: a journal, essay, comedy, social commentary and adventure story, et al. The social commentary comes from the uncomfortable notion of what happens when alien beings treat us the way we’ve often treated aboriginal natives of countries that we’ve conquered. All our wrongful deeds are held up as in a brightly polished mirror—the renaming of holidays and homes, the relocation of the natives, the sudden poverty induced by said relocation and the substitution of inferior food for the excellent fare we once prepared for ourselves. It makes you squirm to read it with its dead-on portrayal of what happens when the shoe is forcibly placed on the other foot. But the book remains for the most part rather light hearted in spirit, the fun coming in liberal doses between its liberal message. The author avoids moralizing and preaching, except on the part of people we’re clearly meant not to take seriously. The heart of the book is the growing fondness between Tip and her alien companion as each learns from the other and both unite to face a common threat. This novel enlivens the spirit as gleeful fun and sobering treatise. Hurrah for Smekday!