A book review by Kendyl Bryant

If you’ve seen the new Dreamworks film Home starring the vocal stylings of Jim Parsons and Rihanna, you might be surprised to learn that it was adapted from a 420-page children’s novel. While the movie is highly entertaining, heartfelt and accessible to all ages, as you might imagine it simplifies the story and loses some fantastic thematics in the process.

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex is written in essay form by the main character, Gratuity Tucci, an eleven year old who had to grow up rather quickly due to her somewhat-flaky single mother…and her mother’s alien abduction which leaves her to make her own way to Florida. You see, when an alien race called the Boov invades, they first need humans to teach them English (humans like Gratuity’s mother) and next they use their new-found English skills to tell all humans…