Eleven-year-old Alex Petroski is too busy to mope about his dead dad, his distant mother and the (much) older brother he rarely sees. Alex is a boy on a mission. He wants to record what life is like on Earth, just like his hero, the great cosmologist Carl Sagan. And just like Carl Sagan, he wants to send his recordings into outer space for aliens to hear. The book is structured as a series of transcripts of Alex's recorded reports to the aliens, so we're thrust into the project from the very first sentence: "Who are you?" Alex asks. "What do you look like? Do you have one head or two? More? Do you have light brown skin like I do or smooth gray skin like a dolphin or spiky green skin like a cactus?" The plot is compelling: Alex and his dog, Carl Sagan, leave home to launch his recordings into space at an out-of-state rocket festival, a journey that propels him toward unlikely new friends and a very grown-up family secret. (Is Alex's father really dead? And if so, was he the hero that Alex's mother remembers?) You'll want to know the answers. But what makes this novel irresistible is Alex himself, a boy who's at once brilliant, clueless and alive with wonder.
See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan" is a poignant coming-of-age story that highlights not only the narrator's life, but also his hopes and dreams. Jack Cheng structured the narrative as a series of Alex Petroski's recorded, almost daily, messages to aliens whom he hopes will receive the golden iPod he plans to launch into space. Alex is eleven years old, but is "thirteen in terms of responsibility". On most days, he handles all the household tasks for his single mother who "lays on the sofa" watching television or sleeping; his older brother Ronnie supports the family through his job as a junior sports agent. Ronnie lives in Los Angeles. Along with his dog, Carl Sagan, Alex travels from his home in Rockview, Colorado, to the Southwest High-Altitude Rocket Festival (SHARF) in Albuquerque. As the novel moves through the days of Alex's life and adventure to SHARF, more details about his family emerge.
"See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan" is an emotion-packed novel. It will tug at your heart-strings; the warmth and love that emerge through the story are sure to touch your heart. Targeted at readers age ten and older, the language and situations are appropriate for most individuals in that group. Infidelity and mental illness do play some part in the story. Parents/grandparents may want to read the book to determine whether their younger readers are sufficiently mature and will understand the role these topics play in the story. This is a lovely novel and one that adults will enjoy as much as the target group.
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