I WAS AN ALIEN FASHION MODEL

A girl body-shamed by her peers becomes a fashion star on a faraway planet in Hamid’s debut middle-grade novel.

While at a shop in her Massachusetts hometown, Katarina Habib ducks out of sight from school bullies. The seventh grader hides in a storeroom full of clothing—which a spider-like alien transports to her spaceship, taking Kat along for the ride. Extraterrestrial fashion designer Madam Xanis simply wants inspiration for her new collection; she declares the Earthling girl she’s inadvertently picked up as her muse. Back home, cruel schoolmates call Kat “Fatty Katty,” but Xanis, and members of many other galactic species, find her to be beautiful. She can help Xanis win the Path of Glory, a fashion competition on planet T’kai that Xanis has won four times (though she’s come up short lately). This puts the generally insecure Kat in the bright spotlight as she does interviews, poses for promotional “clicks,” and stays mum about her home world (since Earth is a “banned” planet). Xanis, meanwhile, has a mere two weeks to complete 10 showstopping outfits. Hamid takes the affable protagonist on a lighthearted interplanetary adventure as Xanis finds a clever way to cover Kat’s absence on Earth and the human girl mingles with an array of relatively harmless aliens. The assorted species are a highlight, from beings with segmented bodies to a “Jello creature” to entities who prefer to slither into a room. As for the question of beauty standards: The various species, while finding allure in all sorts, have a particular fondness for multi-eyed, eight-legged T’kari like Xania. The story’s more grounded elements prove just as engaging—the aliens’ “entertainment grid” is akin to social media, allowing Kat to post personal “clicks” and present the “real” version of herself. The final act, which entails vying for the Path of Glory championship and Kat’s probable return to Earth, leads to a genuinely rewarding end.

Radiant characters electrify a witty and topical SF romp.