It Came from the Sky

June 15, 2020
A nerdy teen loses control of an out-of-this-world lie. Sixteen-year-old Gideon Hofstadt has predicted his future: college at MIT, career at NASA, and, somewhere along the way, a discovery that forever alters human knowledge. For now, he's vying to graduate as valedictorian and running a backyard laboratory on his family's ancestral Lansburg, Pennsylvania, farm. When Gideon rigs an explosion to test a homemade seismograph, his goofball brother Ishmael's interference results in a blast larger than either anticipated. Under interrogation, Ishmael ad-libs, eventually alleging extraterrestrial visitation--and, shockingly, people buy it. The astonished brothers watch as the prank takes on a life of its own with townspeople, ufologists, and media contributing otherworldly additions to the hoax. Though pacing occasionally sags, Gideon's first-person confessional is buoyed by deadpan humor and interstitial text messages, interviews, blog posts, and news articles. Things finally grow dangerous when J. Quincy Oswald, the predatory con man behind a multilevel marketing scheme, decides Lansburg is the perfect launch site for a phony immortality elixir. Gideon's struggles--with introversion and insecurity; commitment issues with his boyfriend, Owen; and habitual mistreatment of his friend Arden--complement this central narrative tension. Can Gideon come clean while his life is still worth salvaging? Or has he ultimately conned himself? Excepting Gideon's best friend, Cassidy, who is black, all characters are assumed white. A balanced exploration of maturity, vulnerability, human connection, and our innate desire to believe. (Fiction. 14-18)

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June 22, 2020
It is clear from the start that this clever tale by Sedoti (As You Wish) isn’t about alien encounters but rather about a hoax perpetrated by Gideon Hofstadt, 16, with the help of his brother, 17-year-old Ishmael, in Lansburg, Pa. After Gideon breaks his rule against letting Ishmael help with science experiments, the resulting explosion necessitates that the siblings come up with an excuse for the crater on their parents’ farm. After storyteller Ishmael ramps their original excuse into an alien encounter, the two continue the story, Gideon as a sociological experiment to help him get into MIT, Ishmael as an epic senior prank. Things quickly spiral out of control, however, with the arrival of UFO hunters and CEO J. Quincy Oswald, a combination con man and cult leader who claims to have had his own alien encounters. Meanwhile, insecure introvert Gideon is convinced that his relationship with popular Owen Campbell is doomed to failure, and is therefore reluctant to make things public. As the hoax snowballs, then unravels, it complicates Gideon’s relationship with Owen, his friends, and his family. Sedoti will draw readers in with the outrageous situation and the town’s amusing aspects, such as a 63-foot lava lamp, but she truly excels with Gideon—a unique character whose desire for recognition and achievement is universal. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary.

July 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 Sixteen-year-old Gideon is a serious student with a grand plan, which includes MIT and NASA. Yet he worries that none of his experiments are groundbreaking enough to stand out. Enter Ishmael, Gideon's prank-loving older brother. Thanks to Ishmael, Gideon's controlled explosion to test his homemade seismograph leaves a crater in the family farm. Gideon blames a meteorite, but Ishmael embellishes until it becomes a UFO, and soon everyone in Lansburg, PA, has seen aliens. When the town is overrun with ufologists and reporters, Gideon decides to control the hoax, thereby creating a sociological experiment worthy of MIT. A snake oil salesman peddling an alien immortality elixir turns his harmless prank into a dangerous con. Gideon narrates this quirky, intelligent novel like a report, with data: texts, articles, interview transcripts. His deadpan humor and emotional insecurity offset some unlikability as he rigidly pursues his ideal future, leading him to neglect his kind boyfriend and supportive friends. Big questions of morality, cosmic insignificance, and human connection ground this novel even as it ponders the stars.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

August 21, 2020

Gr 9 Up-The white Hofstadt family lives outside of Pittsburgh in rural Pennsylvania. Nothing is particularly interesting about them: Ishmael is a charming high school senior, Gideon is a science-minded junior, 13-year-old Maggie loves softball, and mom and dad are attentive and loving. But when Gideon and Ishmael set off an explosion-in the name of science-large enough to register on university seismographs, the chain of events that follows places the Hofstadts, especially Gideon, in the center of an alien invasion hoax, the bringing-down of a millionaire multi-level marketing guru, an alien cult, a missing cow, and the destruction of the world's largest lava lamp. Alongside attending high school, working at ye olde ice cream shoppe, learning to drive, and navigating friendships and first loves, Gideon struggles to keep control of the sociological experiment that he inadvertently put into motion. What he discovers is that people make terrible subjects, what with having their own interests and feelings and other illogical behaviors. Funny and lighthearted, this is a story about a young man who is learning about being human in the world, being loved, and showing care for others (like his ever-patient, kind-of boyfriend Owen). VERDICT Fans of Pete Hautman's dark humor, E. Lockhart's playful formats (letters and emails and transcripts, for example), Libba Bray's grasp of the outrageous, and John Green's sense of place will enjoy Sedoti's newest offering. -Jennifer Miskec, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA

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