SPHDZ Book #1!
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Several websites mentioned in the book will be live…giving readers a full interactive experience.
Jon Scieszka
Jon Scieszka is the National Ambassador for Children's Literature emeritus and the bestselling author of more than twenty-five books for kids, including The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Math Curse, Robot Zot!, and the Time Warp Trio series. Jon founded Guys Read to encourage a passion for reading among young boys, with the philosophy that boys love to read most when they are reading things they love. A former elementary school teacher, Jon lives in Brooklyn with his family. For more great books, more great facts, and more about your favorite authors, head over to www.guysread.com. You'll be glad you did.
Read more from Jon Scieszka
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SPHDZ 4 Life! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SPHDZ Book #3! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5SPHDZ Book #2! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5SPHDZ Book #1! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for SPHDZ Book #1!
54 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoyed this book. I liked going into the world with Michael, Bob & Jennifer. Some of the plots were mixed up with other plots, and some plots were messed around with . Except for the plot mix-up and mess up I really enjoyed it. It had some mature & non-mature parts in the story. My favorite part was when Michael K. meet the SPHDZ, and they wanted him to become one! Cannot wait to read the next book!
Definitely a Good Read! - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5May be good for a reluctant reader. The references to the commercial slogans are funny.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Michael K. is a 5th grader who just transferred to a new school and is having a hard time making new friends because they are all aliens! They then have a mission and a hamster as their leader.Coming of age for boys5-6
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Disappointing. I prefer the Time Warp Trio.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Everything that I didn't like about this story is why it will probably appeal to the most reluctant readers. The short choppy dialgue, the bizare situations, the ideas of aliens arriving in the form of pet hamsters.... all things my male reaers would enjoy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stars: ThemeAge: IntermediateThis book is a good example of the Science Fiction genre because it involves aliens and advanced technology, such as that used for hunting aliens. However, the author still makes the story feel real by using an average fifth-grader, with understandable emotions and reactions, as the main character.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Michael K. is the new boy in fifth grade. Being new is never fun but it's even worse when the other new kids in the class turn out to be aliens who have no concept of how to act like normal kids. They spout lines from old tv shows since Earth tv was beamed into their planet and is how they understand earthlings. Michael doesn't want to be associated with Bob and Jennifer or their commander, who is apparently the class hamster, but he cannot seem to escape them. For their part, they are innocently convinced that Michael K. is the help they need in order to save the Earth and keep it from being turned off. Silliness and outright goofiness abound here but there's not much explanation of the danger facing Earth that Michael K. so needs to help avert. The bumbling of Agent Umber (all the good color names were taken) is slightly reminiscent of Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau with the chief difference that he does not, in the end, catch the aliens. Short and quick, this is the first in a projected series and seems almost to exist mainly to introduce the characters as there is little further explanation of the dire crisis facing our planet. There are ecological snippets scattered amongst the chapters, which perhaps give a clue to the ultimate crisis but it seems that further books in the series are needed for it to be stated explicitly.I'm passing this one along to the youngest son to see what his take on it is, given that he's within the target age range for it. I only wish my ARC had finished artwork so he could have the full experience. In any case, I suspect it will be welcome reading as he tries to read for a half hour a day for more than 50 days over the summer to earn an ice cream party when school starts next year.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fifth grade was never this bad, was it? First day in a new school and the two kids sitting next to Michael K. are either the weirdest kids ever or they are space aliens. (Well they must be from outer space because Dillard Picklebury from my fourth grade class was the weirdest kid ever. But I digress.) Bob and Jennifer let Michael know right away, that they are spaceheadz from another planet. Michael wishes he was on another planet or at least not assigned to sit next to these two loonies. Despite his best efforts, he is repeatedly drawn into their company. He eventually starts to see things from their perspective. He finds himself saving them not only from the dangers of the local crosswalk, but also from the ever vigilant, often incompetent, Agent Umber, of AAA, the Anti Alien Agency. This book is a lot fun. It is full of good humor and many references to current catch phrases and slogans from television that young readers will be familiar with. References throughout the book are given to current websites created for the book, that will enhance the reader's enjoyment. Great fun, with situations that will amuse middle schoolers.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5What the... what? I was so excited about this book, but now I'm just... confused. Michael K, new kid in school, gets stuck sitting with two very weird also-new kids in his fifth grade class. They keep telling him they're aliens (Spaceheadz, actually) and that they have to get 3.14 million people to become SPHDZ or the Earth will be turned off. Their only knowledge of the Earth is from commercials and television, so that's their frame of reference. I can get on board with the wacky. That's not my thing, really, but I know some kids go gaga for it. My problem is that it feels like half a story. And I know that it's the first book in a series, but... nothing really happened. We met the characters. They had some hijinx. And then it ended. There's no real urgency, "turning the Earth off" is never explained. Kids may still read it - it's got a good cover and an interesting premise and maybe they'll laugh at all the toilet paper, pickle phones, and head injuries. But I'm still just saying "What the... what?"**Important to note is that I'm reviewing from an ARC without the final artwork. Maybe the art will help me understand it?**
Book preview
SPHDZ Book #1! - Jon Scieszka
Michael K. knew his first day in a new school in a new city was going to be weird. How could a first day at someplace in Brooklyn, New York, called P.S. 858 not be weird?
He just had no idea it could be this weird.
Michael K. had been in fifth grade for only twenty minutes, and already
1. Mrs. Halley had stuck him in the slow group with the two strange new kids,
2. the new girl had eaten half of his only pencil, and
3. the new boy had just told Michael K. that they were Spaceheadz from another planet.
pictureUh, yeah,
said Michael K. I just moved here too.
The girl flexed an arm. SMACKDOWN,
she said in a voice like a wrestling announcer.
Very nice.
Michael K. nodded.
Sure, he was a new kid too. But these other new kids were seriously creeping him out. He did not want to get stuck with these losers on the first day of school. It could ruin his whole life.
The boy nodded back. JUST DO IT.
The girl drew on her Star Wars lunch box:
SPHDZ
This was getting beyond weird.
Michael K., I’M LOVING IT!
said the boy. We need your help. You must become a SPHDZ. Save your world. I am Bob.
Jennifer,
said the girl in that deep, echoing voice.
Michael K. watched Jennifer crunch the last of his Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2.
How did this new kid Bob know his name? Michael K. hadn’t said it. What did he mean, save your world
? Were they just messing with him? Yeah, that was it. They were just goofing around.
Michael K. decided he would goof right back . . . then move his seat as far away from them as possible.
I get it,
said Michael K. You are Spaceheadz from another planet. On a mission to Earth. Here to take over the world. Take me to your leader. Bzzt, bzzzt.
See! I told you, Jennifer!
said Bob. Michael K. can do anything! He is like a rock. MMM, MMM GOOD.
Jennifer burped up the eraser from Michael K.’s only pencil. She spit it out.
SPHDZ—GET RRRREADY TO RRRRRUMBLE,
said Jennifer.
Eeek eek,
said the class hamster.
Room 501-B went silent except for the sound of Mrs. Halley writing on the chalkboard.
The thought occurred to Michael K. that Bob and Jennifer were not joking.
The thought occurred to Michael K. that they really were Spaceheadz from another planet.
The thought exploded in Michael K.’s head that those thoughts were ridiculous.
Aliens don’t invade fifth-grade classrooms. They don’t look like fifth graders. And they don’t talk like commercials and pro wrestlers.
Bob and Jennifer were probably just from somewhere else. And kind of confused.
Right.
Right?
sectionIf it had been nighttime, a broken neon sign would have been buzzing and blinking a watery red light across the tiny, one-room apartment.
But it wasn’t nighttime. It was 9:42 in the morning. So a weak ray of sunlight and a lot of dust and zooming noises filled the small room.
The sunlight came from the sun, ninety-three million miles away. The dust and the noise came from the elevated Brooklyn–Queens Expressway, twenty-three feet away.
Agent Umber sat at his kitchen table. He ignored the dust and the zooming noises. He polished his already-shiny black shoes. He polished his already-shiny Anti-Alien Agency, or AAA for short, badge.
pictureThere were a million different stories in this town. You always had to be ready.
A ringing phone interrupted his polishing.
Umber picked up his AAA Picklephone® and listened.
One, two,
said a high-pitched voice on the other end.
Umber answered carefully, Buckle my shoe.
Alert level red,
said the squeaky voice. Alert level red. Possible AEW in your sector. We have detected waves from coordinates D-7. D-7. Proceed with extreme caution.
Three, four,
said Agent Umber. I will shut the door.
This was it. A possible Alien Energy Wave. It was his chance to finally catch a real alien. It was his chance to get promoted and finally get a cool color name. A name like Agent Black or Agent Gray or even Agent Atomic Tangerine . . .
And Umber?
Yes?
Do not make this another Fried Santa Incident. We do not want the publicity.
Not a problem, Chief. That file has been buried for years.
Then why am I reading about it right now on the ‘Buzz’ blog?
Agent Umber looked at