Review: Great Middle School SciFi
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 19, 2012
Alec's Dream had a little bit of a slow start and covered a lot of ground in just one book. Although the adult figures in the book were not particularly well developed, the important characters, Jessie and her friend Sofie were charming and believable. Since the book is directed to late elementary and middle school kids, it's more important that the kids be well fleshed out. after all, I think most kids think of adults as big, powerful people without ever understanding the complexity of our lives.This book is a great read for a middle school girl who is interested in science because of its science fiction bent and strong central girl character. I think that most middle school girls will love this book, wishing in their imaginations that they were Jessie. Jessie has an unusual talent for working with electricity. Although she really doesn't understand electricity, she has the ability to see currents in streams of colors; a talent which helped her father create antigravity. As her father, Alec shows a client an application of antigravity, Jessie and her friend Sofie stow away on Alec's Dream, the ship that is powered with it. As they orbit the moon, their ship is attacked and the ship is absorbed into the alien Kan-ji ship and world of the Cheorgh. A Cheorghian, Chandler meets them and helps them settle in, taking a special interest in Jessie. He gives her a gift, a bracelet with odd symbols on it. On earth, their parents frantically try to find a way to rescue the group, while Jessie, Sofie and the adults in their group are found and imprisoned by the Kan-ji. The Kan-ji have developed a hatred for earth and its occupants and the first intergalactic war is ready to begin. Still, Jessie believes that there is a way home and she is determined to find it and save her friends. Will she? Or will earth even be there for her return?