The Diary of a Martian Kid

Maria Daadouch
Basma Hosam
FRIARS, 53RD OF SEPTARS

Today is my birthday, I am five years old

today! I am now a very tall, purple Martian!

Did you know that on our neighbor planet,

Earth, five-year-old children are only half my
size? Can you guess why?

1
If you don’t know, I’ll tell you! Earth is closer
to the sun, so it has a smaller orbit. It only
takes half the time for Earth to go around the
sun as it does for Mars, so a year is only half
as long!

Today, Aunt Lilac and Uncle Greenish came to

celebrate my birthday.

2
Aunt Reddish and Uncle Bluem came to my
party too.

3
Grandma and Grandpa Yellowmelon brought
more presents than anyone else!

4
SATURDARS, 54TH OF SEPTARS

Today I got to open Aunt Lilac’s present.

It was a lovely nose! I put it on my face and

started to sniff, sniff.

Ahhh, isn’t pure carbon dioxide wonderful!

5
At school, my teacher told the class that
Earthlings inhale a gas called oxygen! Yuck!
Who would want to breathe that stuff?

6
SUNDAS, 55TH OF SEPTARS

Today, I opened Uncle Greenie’s present.

It was a pair of ears! I put one on each side of

my face and guess what! I heard a whoosh,
whoosh sound blowing across the Martian
plains.

7
I followed the sound to find my brother
digging a very big hole. When he saw me, he
told me that he loves digging. Now I know
why there are so many holes on the surface
of Mars!

8
MONDARS, 56TH OF SEPTARS

It’s time to open Aunt Reddish’s present.

She gave me three eyes. Three wonderful,

round eyes! I quickly put them on. What
wonders I will now see!

9
I can see Earth, our neighbor planet. Is
it really blue? I could never live on a blue
planet. Red is much nicer.

10
TUESDAS, 57TH OF SEPTARS.

I wonder why Uncle Bluem gave me four

tongues for my birthday? There is nothing to
taste here on Mars. I guess they were on sale!

11
I’ll pay him back on his birthday by getting
him an air conditioner! No one on Mars needs
an air conditioner, the temperature is never
higher than twenty degrees Celsius.

12
WEDNESDAS, 58TH OF SEPTARS

Finally, it’s time to open my grandparents’

presents. My heart races as I tear open the
gifts. Will I get what I have been hoping for?

Hooray, it is five wobbly arms and two strong

legs with jet boots!

13
Now I can explore everything on Mars. I can
even visit the moons, like Phobos!

Phobos is green, smells funny, sounds noisy,

and feels wrinkled and cold.

14
Ooh, the moon Deimos looks red, my favorite
color! It feels smooth, smells nice, and sounds
quiet.

I wonder what it tastes like?

15
THURSDAS, 59TH OF SEPTARS.

It is so much fun to explore with all of my

senses. I can smell, hear, see, taste, and feel
things everywhere!

16
It is great to be five years old on Mars!

I wonder what Earthlings get when they turn

five years old?

17
THE END

18
 Brought to you by

Let’s Read is an initiative of The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia

program that fosters young readers in Asia. booksforasia.org
To read more books like this and get further information about
this book, visit letsreadasia.org

Original Story
The Diary of a Martian Kid, author: Maria Daadouch . illustrator:
Basma Hosam. Released under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

This work is a modified version of the original story. © The Asia

Foundation, 2019. Some rights reserved. Released under CC
BY-NC-SA 4.0.

For full terms of use and attribution,

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/