My good friend Cate is a professor of American history, and so I was thrilled that she would let me re-post her review of "The True Meaning of Smekday" for this blog. Enjoy!

The True Meaning of Smekday
by Adam Rex
review by Cate


I love this book!

Here's the deal: the Boov invade earth. The tell humans that they all have to move to certain parts of Earth so that the Boov can have the rest (Americans get to move to Florida) and they sign treaties to show they're ...more I love this book!

Here's the deal: the Boov invade earth. The tell humans that they all have to move to certain parts of Earth so that the Boov can have the rest (Americans get to move to Florida) and they sign treaties to show they're serious about their promises. Only they end up liking Florida, so all the Americans have to move to Arizona. The Boov reckon humans can have that forever. Maybe.

(A children's book with an allegory for the colonization of Native lands? Be still my heart!)

Amid all this chaos is eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci, who has to try and get to Florida on her own when her mother's abducted by the Boov. Her cat, called Pig, comes along for the ride, and somewhere in Pennsylvania they adopt a Boov (in a way). He goes by the name of J. Lo.

(A children's book with a kickass female protagonist who - in a beautiful moment on pages 280-281 observes, "Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug and people think he was good right? Didn't write any decent girl characters, as far as I can tell, but otherwise, fine."? Oh, SNAP.)

Just when you think you have the Boov figured out, along come the Gorp. The Gorp communicate mostly by hitting each other. And they smell pretty bad.

As Gratuity - 'Tip' to her friends - tries to work out how to save the world from the aliens, we're treated to a sharp, witty meta-analysis of American history and culture. The people who try to help Tip look for her mother send out an APB for a black woman, since Tip herself is black - they're very confused to realize Tip's mom is white. Chief Shouting Bear (real name, Frank) gleefully yells "YOU STOLE MY LAND" at white liberals living in Roswell, corrects the names that Tip uses for various local Native communities, and calls her Stupidlegs on account of wanting to be fair to the fact that she's half-white. There's an illustrated history of Boov evolution in the middle of the book that makes some striking points about the power of the church, the oppressive tendencies of government, and the problem of global warming. And then, over and above all else, there's language - Boov words scattered throughout the text that will encourage anyone who reads this book to start calling people poomps and kacknackers, but perhaps more beautifully, J. Lo's English shifts and changes and reflects what he's learned in books, in school, and finally by talking to humans. It makes for some moments of prime comedy, but there's an incredible thoughtfulness about words and communication beneath.

All this in a book aimed at 9-12 year olds. I would love a book aimed at 37-50 year olds that was this freaking sophisticated.

The True Meaning of Smekday is 100% poomp free. Buy yours now.