Taking the family dog Patti for a walk one night changed everything for Alex Lee. Watching the night sky, she noticed a star behaving strangely. It seemed to be moving. No. Hang on. It was growing. Getting closer. Landing right in front of her! It wasn’t a star at all, but a small spaceship.

But wait. I’m getting ahead of myself. The reason Alex had to take Patti for a walk is her dad is at the hospital with her big sister. Why? It all had to do with an experiment with a banana peel and a cactus.

Back to the spaceship! An alien appears. Not humanoid with a big head and strange eyes, but more like a snail with three eyes on stalks. Alex’s mouth is hanging open, staring at the alien. Especially when it speaks.

“Take me to your leader.”

According to the alien, he has wanted to say that for ages, and now on Earth for a school project, he thought he’d try it out. As Alex watches the spaceship slip up into the sky and disappear leaving the alien behind, she has to admit that it’s not some TV stunt. There are no cameras and the alien in front of her is not someone in a costume. It’s actually real.

Named Hieronymus, or Hi for short, Alex takes him home hoping her dad will know what to do. Unfortunately Alex seems to be the only one to see Hi, except for Patti the dog who can communicate with Hi herself.

Alex learns more about Hi, as Hi learns about Earthlings and Earth. Hi has many misconceptions about Earth from a TV program he watches on his home planet and is disappointed to find many things he loved about Earth, to be not true at all.

One thing that remains the same however is Hi’s love of human shoes. This causes some unfortunate incidents in the local shopping centre. But helping Hi meet an Earth leader for his ‘Role of Leadership in Human Societies’ school project might be just what Alex needs for a project of her own.

She loves to draw and wants to enter a cartoon competition. The theme’s for the Junior Division 9-13 year age section are Truth is Stranger than Fiction or A helping hand. Suddenly both of those have just dropped in her lap in the form of a three eyed alien called Hi.

Packed full of funny in both story and illustration, Hi from Outer Space is perfect for fans of Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates or the Penny Draws series.

There is laughter, music, misconceptions and a mystery solved. There is word play, hilarious sound descriptions of Hi’s alien speech, and all types of leaders introduced to the plot in Hi’s search for wisdom.

A pair of rich man’s gold shoes reminds me of another pair here on Earth, and two ticking clocks in the plot add a little tension. Hi has only a few days on Earth, and Alex’s deadline to finish her comic competition entry is fast approaching….

Author / Illustrator – Fiona Katauskas

Age – 7+

(2024, Allen & Unwin, Humour, Funny, Animals, Family, Music, Mystery, Sci Fi, Secret, Shoes, Aliens, Space Ships, Leadership styles, Band, Musician, Comics, Cartoon Competition, School Project, Tiktok, Social media, Viral video)