The True Meaning of Smekday: Difference between revisions

Written by Adam Rex. It all starts with a school essay. When twelve-year-old Gratuity ("Tip") Tucci is assigned to write five pages on "The True Meaning of Smekday" for the National Time Capsule contest, she's not sure where to begin. When her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended on the Earth and the aliens - called Boov - abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it "Smekland" (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod? In any case, Gratuity's story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo.; a futile journey south to find Gratuity's mother at the [[Souvenir Land|Happy Mouse Kingdom]]; a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious; and an outrageous plan to save the Earth from yet another alien invasion. Fully illustrated with "photos," drawings, newspaper clippings, and comics sequences, this books breathes new life into the "[[Kid Hero]]" genre.

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* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Of the [[Kid Hero]] genre, and also of most "alien invasion" movies.

* [[Alien Abduction]]: Gratuity's mom and others are abducted a few months before the actual alien invasion {{spoiler|to teach the Boov English.}}

* [[Aliens Steal Cable]]

* [[Brainless Beauty]]: Gratuity's mom Lucy starts out like this, but later shows her leadership skills.

* [[Character Blog]]: a [http://www.smekday.com site] for the time capsule Gratuity sends her essay to.

* [[Easily-Thwarted Alien Invasion]]: the Gorg are {{spoiler|allergic to cats. They try to remedy this by killing any and all cats on the planet. }}

* [[Embarrassing First Name]]: Gratuity, so named because her mom did not know what Gratuity meant when she was born, as well as J.Lo, who learned his pop culture [[Aliens Steal Cable|from TV]].

* [[Humanoid Aliens]]: the Boov, as well as the Gorg.

* [[Innocent Aliens|Innocent Alien]]: J.Lo

* [[Kid Hero]]: Gratuity

* [[Magical Native American]]: The Chief is a subversion of sorts of this

* [[Non-Human Sidekick]]: both J.Lo the Boov and Gratuity's cat Pig.

* [[Pardon My Klingon]]

EET-MAY UNDER-WAY THE ASTLE-CAY }}

* [[The Quest]]: in a way.

[[Category:The New Tens]]

[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]