Dear Earthling: Cosmic Correspondent by Pen Avey
Release: December 3rd 2018
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Common Deer Press
Source: Netgalley
Dear Earthling Synopsis:
Dethbert Jones is your average ten-year-old – only he lives on the planet Crank with his pet chicken-snail and his robot best friend Andi Social. When he and Andi join the Space Cadets, a Scouts-like organization, they are totally smooshed at the prospect of going to Space Camp where they’ll learn to pilot a real shuttlecraft and disintegrate weapons of mass destruction. Blamtastic!
To earn his cosmic correspondent badge, Dethbert begins writing to an earthling – and boy, does he have a lot to write about! Between questions about Earth food, culture, and activities, Dethbert recounts his experiences attempting to avoid his horrible little sister, impress his animal-obsessed crush, and fly a space shuttle. Misadventures – from hairy ankles to crash landings – abound, but Dethbert’s curiosity and enthusiasm can’t be crushed, not by anything in this galaxy, anyway!
Review:
A special thanks to Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review. Even though I read it initially, due to personal reasons, I couldn’t review it prior to the publication. So here it is now 🙂
At times, it is just fun to pick up a silly book and read it and have a good laugh, and “Dear Earthling: Cosmic Correspondent” does exactly that. This book was quirky and entertaining to read. The story is fun and breezy and would mainly entertain younger readers.
There are several things which I enjoyed about this book. Firstly, I liked the way in which each chapter is told via letter correspondence between Dethbert Jones and the Earthling. Even though the characters are unbelievable, reading their letters makes the reader relate to them better. Secondly, I liked the how the author blends science fiction elements perfectly in way that younger readers can relate to. There are different gadgets, animals and trips to outer space that makes this book very creative. The author also included some terms like “parpled” and “sloshing” which sounds really funny. However, the author has used these terms in a way that the reader would understand what it is.
I particularly found the story very interesting when Dethbert and Andi crash into the island and meet the Clawed Beastie. It was interesting to see how they would get out of the predicament. Pen Avey has done a very nice job in creating the world and the characters for the story. She is perfect for writing these types of novels and I am keen in picking up some of her other works as well. I am not sure who the illustrator is, but the sketches add beautifully to compliment the plot.
While I would not give “Dear Earthling: Cosmic Correspondent” a 5 star rating as I would have liked something meaningful and substantial also added to it, I did find it entertaining and would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars for its uniqueness and creativity.
