Alien Invasion in My Backyard

February 16, 2015
“You know those corny chapter books where kids solve mysteries? What if we did that?” Eleven-year-old Stuart Tennemeier’s brainstorm leads to the creation of the EMU Club (short for “Exploration-Mystery-Unbelievable”) in this offbeat series opener from Bolling, best known for his Tom the Dancing Bug comic. Structured as a top-secret report, with cartoons that look like taped-in photos and diagrams, the book follows the efforts of Stuart, his younger sister, and his best friend to locate a missing video-game controller—a seemingly innocuous mystery that may involve the fate of Earth itself. Filled with wild twists and funny dialogue, this suburban/intergalactic adventure bodes well for later installments. Ages 7–10. Agent: Jason Yarn, Paradigm.

February 15, 2015
A seemingly insignificant clue leads three young would-be detectives to mind-blowing adventures in their outwardly ordinary suburban neighborhood.Casting about for some small mystery to solve, the Exploration-Mystery-Unbelievable Club-newly founded out of boredom by preteen Stuart, his mildly OCD best bud, Brian, and tag-along little sister, Violet-starts with a loose paint chip. In no time, they are exploring a high-tech underground lair, discovering that Stuart's pooch, Ferdinand, isn't at all what he seems and becoming Earth's first line of defense against an incoming extraterrestrial fleet. Along with creating mildly fizzy chemistry for his squabbling trio, Bolling, creator of the satiric comic strip Tom the Dancing Bug, keeps the surprises coming-with occasional pauses while Brian goes off to wash his hands or practice his didgeridoo. Stuart's matter-of-fact narrative is strewn with Violet's cartoon "photos" of important evidence or characters posing hammily. Turning out to be cats and therefore vulnerable to Super Soaker blasts and passing balls of yarn, the aliens are driven off handily without, happily, drawing unwanted parental attention. Stuart follows up with a handy chart of ways to repulse future attacking alien animals, plus hints about upcoming episodes. A credible bit of sleuthing and a spectacular escalation factor give this opener a bit of bounce. (Mystery/fantasy. 8-10)

May 1, 2015
Grades 2-4 Before video games, imagination used to run rampant among the younger elementary set. For some, it still might. Intergalactic invaders could appear at any time or place, even in a doghouse, and the dog might be a robot spy for the invaders. Eleven-year-old Stuart and Brian are bummed. Stuart can't play video games without his mom's permission, and Brian doesn't have one. The boys, plus Stuart's eight-year-old sister, Violet, and Ferdinand, the dog, form the Exploration Mystery-Unbelievable (EMU) Club. Their mystery: a missing video-game controller. A paint chip off Ferdinand's doghouse and a piece of the controller lead the children into the doghouse, down a long tunnel, and into an underground room with a computer made from all sorts of missing things from the house! And Ferdinand has the controls. As the mystery unfolds, the aliens are identified, Ferdinand is exposed, and the kids save the world. The book, written in notebook format with Bolling's own comic-strip illustrations as photographs, leaves open the opportunity for solving many more everyday mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)