Review: Cute children's story takes an unnecessarily dark turn
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2014
Venkatesh Krish's MY BROTHER THE ALIEN is a cute story for elementary readers.  It focuses on 6th grader Maddy Jenkins who discovers a strange little boy hiding in the feeding shed at the local zoo, eating hay.  They boy's name is Alfear, and he tells Maddy that he hasn't seen his parents in two weeks.  She is determined to take him home with her, and since her father works for social services, that's exactly what happens.  But it doesn't take too long for Maddy to discover that Alfear isn't an ordinary little boy - he has a three foot tongue, which he uses to eat leaves from trees in Maddy's backyard, he's telepathic, and he really looks like a giant lizard (his human form is only a projection he uses to disguise his true self).  In fact, he's an alien, and his parents accidently left him on Earth when they set off on their latest three-year mission.  So the Jenkins family decides to take care of him until his birth parents can return.This is all very interesting, and Alfear is a great character - his reactions to some of the things he encounters with his foster family are quite amusing (he loves Animal Planet (especially "Dog Whisperer" - he even speaks dog!), bubble baths, and maple leaves, which he says taste a little bit like maple syrup.  But the central conflict in the story - an evil man named Mr. Cooper wants to get his hands on Alfear so he can experiment on him and make a ton of money - doesn't really work.  Mr. Cooper tries to get social services to transfer guardianship of Alfear from the Jenkins family to him, but his wife has been diagnosed with serious depression and his son, Zach, has a reputation as the school bully, so his efforts do not succeed.  This doesn't stop Cooper, of course, and by the end of the novel his efforts to get his hands on Alfear become downright psychopathic.So what begins as a lighthearted children's novel about accepting differences becomes an overwrought thriller about a mad scientist who delights in torturing children and animals.  It's a rather creepy mix, and the novel would have been much more successful had the conflict involved the children rather than a psychotic adult.  Zach Cooper, who is introduced early in the story as a bully who torments Maddy, could easily have become the antagonist here, causing problems for Alfear.  But with Zach's father as the villain, the situation becomes something much more sinister and much more frightening.Additionally, MY BROTHER THE ALIEN needs a good editor.  There are formatting errors that make it difficult to read (line spacing is inconsistent, as is the use of italics to indicate telepathic communication).  Children, especially, might have problems with pages of dense type.  An editor would also catch dialogue formatting errors and awkward phrasing.Bottom line, I really like the premise of this book, and I think the relationship between Alfear and Maddy (and her family) is heartwarming and charming.  But once crazy psycho Mr. Cooper starts stirring up trouble, the story loses its heart and takes an unnecessarily dark turn.  Krish has indicated that there will be future Alfear stories, and I do think there's plenty of room for more adventures starring this cute little alien and his human foster family.  I just hope those future stores are more child-centered and less dependent on evil adults.[Please note:  I was provided a copy of this novel for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]