GOBBLEDY

In this novel, a boy gets into even more trouble than usual after encountering a cute (and hungry) alien creature.

Kissmas—a child’s pronunciation of Christmas that stuck—won’t be the same this year. Six months ago, Dexter Duckworth, 11, lost his mother, leaving him, his father, and his 8-year-old brother, Dougal, with a hole in the family: “Not a bad hole, but a big hole. The kind of hole that sneaks up on me late at night when I remember.” Dexter’s science project, a “Cricket Colony,” goes badly awry when he enhances an enclosure with a rock from the forest on which a strange bug seems to have hitched a ride. It’s furry, ravenous, and growing larger all the time. It soon becomes evident that Gobbledy, as he’s dubbed, is an extraterrestrial alien who needs help and protection. A comedy of errors ensues as Dexter tries to avoid getting grounded for life. Anna-Langston, whose middle-grade fiction has won numerous prizes, successfully balances comedy and drama in this latest outing. Dexter’s narrative voice sounds convincingly fifth grade in his sense of humor, but he also expresses thoughtfulness and compassion; the family’s palpable grief and their attempts to restore normality for this first Christmas without their mother are poignant yet understated. Meanwhile, Dexter’s misadventures build upon each other for great comic effect, culminating in a school Winter Extravaganza where his role as Gingerbread Man goes hilariously wrong. As he comments, “Trouble is a plague. Trouble follows fun. Trouble is my mortal enemy.” The alien’s plight, too, is affecting, and the devotion he inspires in the cast reveals the story’s warm heart. Powell, a prolific artist and illustrator, contributes engagingly humorous and skillfully crosshatched drawings.

Hugely entertaining as well as emotionally moving.