See You in the Cosmos

Eleven year old Alex is in love with space rockets. When an opportunity arises for him to attend a rocket event in the middle of New Mexico, Alex and his dog, Carl Sagan head off on a journey. Alex is basically living on his own. His mom, whom we later learn is suffering from mental illness, is

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unable to barely care for herself, let alone Alex. Alex's brother is working in California and not home to care for him. Their father died years ago.

I liked this story more than I thought. Alex records his journey on his ipod and many of the chapters are written as a recording of what he actually said.

Along the way, Alex meets a group of strangers that actually become like a surrogate family to him. The end seemed a little rushed, but it was still a really good read. I received a complimentary ebook from the publisher.

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I fell in love with Alex Petroski - his generosity, openness and dedication to truth, bravery and love. I grew up watching "Cosmos" so it was wonderful to see a character emulating and being guided by Carl Sagan. Alex was wise in "responsibility years" and I agree with him that there should be a

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"responsibility age." Alex is a kid for other kids to emulate.

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11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in

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1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like.

But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.

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Eleven-year-old Alex records his thoughts on a iPod that he intends to launch into space.

Eleven-year-old Alex is obsessed with all things astronomy and is building a rocket on which he plans to include a "golden iPod" full of his recordings for extraterrestrial beings. Alex and his dog (named Carl Sagan after Alex's hero) board a train in Colorado and head to New Mexico for a

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rocket-launching festival, and their adventures begin. As Alex embarks on the road trip of a lifetime, he makes friends and learns truths about his fractured family.

This book was a compelling read, with good writing and wonderful characters. I absolutely fell in love with Alex and think other readers will as well. The supporting cast is also lovely -- unique yet entirely recognizable. The story goes in directions I didn't expect and is a roller coaster of emotions along the way. Being written as "recordings" was an unusual way of presenting the story but it works for this particular plot and doesn't feel in any way gimmicky. The conclusion was a little more open-ended that I would have liked, and those who like neatly tied resolutions might be disappointed.

That all being said, I'd be rather hesitant to recommend this book to a young reader. The fact that Alex travels alone, stays with strangers, and manages to come out of that all relatively unscathed is unfortunately rather unlikely. I'd be terrified that susceptible readers might think it was a good idea to go off on their own. There are other rather heavy elements in this book including mental illness, abuse and neglect, and bodily injury, to name a few. Such dark subject matter may not go over well with every reader. I almost feel like this book is better for adults, especially as some of the humor seems to come out of the reader understanding when Alex is naively wrong. At the least I think caregivers might want to read this with or alongside their child to help them work through the more difficult topics.

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Alex is a really bright, eccentric kid, probably on the lower end of the autism spectrum, who is 11-years-old (though his responsibility age is 13) and he is obsessed with space science. In homage to his hero, Carl Sagan (not to be confused with his dog, also named Carl Sagan), Alex is making a

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recording to send into space telling other life forms what life on earth is like. The book, is a transcript of those recordings.
There is a great deal going on in this book. Alex's mother is severely mentally ill with schizophrenia, and he largely supports himself. Because his mother doesn't mind, he takes off alone on a trek to a site in the desert, where a rocket club he is a part of will be launching their rockets. An 11-year-old taking off on a multi-state journey alone is a dangerous undertaking. However, Alex encounters absolutely no one who tries to take advantage of him, or has any nefarious intents. Instead, he makes a few excellent, but unlikely friends, as well as a half-sister he didn't even know he had.
I won't go further into the plot. Suffice to say, a great deal more happens. And in the end, Alex has learned from his adventures, and is a stronger person for them.
Stellar book. Highly recommended.

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Alex is making iPod recordings that he hopes to one day send into space for other life to find. The insights of this 11-year-old are both profound and innocent at the same time. He thinks about other life forms and the possibilities in ways most people wouldn't and it's brilliant. As he records,

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though, we learn about a troubled home life that he doesn't recognize as troubled, which is sad but also good in that it protects him (for a time) from the truth. I love his voice and the unique perspectives brought to the story by the characters he meets when he sets out first for a rocket convention and then on a quest to find his father.

Minor quibbles. Alex refers to some initialisms as acronyms. He refers to some similes as metaphors. Given the intelligence of his character, those should have been presented correctly. Also, he's 11 and of course kids that age (people of any age) cry, but his behavior near the end to get his own way seemed out of sync with the rest of the book. And I really didn't get why one of the first people he meets ends up in an ambulance, other than to conveniently force Alex to meet someone who was going to the rocket conference.

Those small things aside, it's a must for ages ten to adult. I'll leave you with two of my favorite quotes in Alex's voice:

"The launchurdles are gone and the registration tents are gone . . . and in the morning we'll all be gone too. So if someone drives by tomorrow and looks out the window of their car, all they'll see is flat desert. They won't even know anything was here, because they looked too late."

"Even after the sun was gone the clouds above were still bright red, and the horizon was gold and the water was purple and they should've sent a poet."

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The first book in a long time that's kept me up past my bedtime.

Alex Petroski, you're my hero. This book has been compared to Wonder, which I found unrealistic, and The Curious Incident of the Dog..., which I didn't like. See You in the Cosmos is so much better.

Alex, an 11 year old boy who loves rockets and his dog Carl Sagan, named after his hero,

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inadvertently goes on a road trip when he tries to attend SHARF (Southwest High Altitude Rocket Festival) to fly his own rocket in the competition.

Alex is a very independent and resilient kid, who finds a way to do what he wants to do, even without any parental guidance. His Mom seems unavailable, his brother is in another city, and his father is dead.

We don't find out what's going on with his Mom till later in the book, although we know something is not right, because Alex does all the cooking, and his mother watches a lot of tv and doesn't take a lot of interest in his life.

Alex's optimistic and creative attitude win him friends along the way to SHARF. After SHARF, the trip continues with two men he met on the way to the festival, one of whom is currently practicing a vow of silence. They visit Las Vegas, where Alex finds that his family is larger than he thought, and then on to LA, before he goes back to home to Colorado.

The novel is told in the form of an audio journal Alex is making on his iPod. He plans to launch his rocket containing the iPod into outer space, in hopes that aliens will someday find it and learn about humans.

There is so much to like in this story of family, friendship, creativity and bravery. It moved me more than anything I have read in a long time, and it's a middle grade novel. Go figure.

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A simple story but completely engrossing.