We couldn’t get enough Jack Cheng’s debut middle-grade novel called See you in the Cosmos. Eleven-year-old Alex Petroski travels to the Southwest High Altitude Rocket Festival (SHARF) in New Mexico, recording his adventures during his travels, with the goal of launching his audio diary into space. Alex sets out with only his dog Carl Sagan. Along the way he learns the truth about his absent dad and mentally-ill mother and discovers family and friends that he didn’t know he had.
We fell in love with Alex’s naive brilliance from page one. He matter-of-factly explains that his mother spends her days lying on the couch and watching TV while he manages the house, meals, and the bills. You don’t really feel sorry for him because he seems so capable. His description of himself as “more responsible than even a lot of fourteen-year-olds” is incredibly accurate. He also reveals that his dad died when Alex was three and that he has a sports-agent brother, Robbie, who lives in California. While Robbie sends money to support Alex and his mother, they rarely see him and he doesn’t seem to want to be bothered with them.
While he is traveling to SHARF Alex meets a kind stranger Zed – who has taken a vow of silence – and Steve – who isn’t thrilled to be saddled with a child. Alex persuades this duo to take him to Las Vegas when he gets a notification from ancestry,com that someone with his father’s name and birthday was married there to a woman named Donna.
Ultimately, Alex makes his way back home where he discovers how dire the situation with his mother really is. But not before he meets his half-sister and travels to California to see his brother. We can rest assured that the other adults in his life do right by Alex.
The kids and I actually listened to the Audible version of this book and I would highly recommend that you do the same. The audio book was narrated by an ensemble cast of characters with Kivlighan De Montebello playing (is that the correct term?!?) Alex and joined by Brittany Presley, Graham Halsted, Michael Crouch, and Jason Culp. Because this book is actually a transcript of Alex’s iPod recordings the different readers bring the transcript to life with their voices and sound effects. It is incredibly well done.
I would say this book is intended for middle schoolers, although Bud listened to it at age eight. Alex is exposed to some adult situations, including adult fighting and drinking and some relationship drama. I hope you enjoy this book. If your kids read it or have already read it let me know what they think in the comments!
You can buy the book here (I do receive a small commission):
I think the Audible version is worth every penny. You can snag that here:
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