The True Meaning of Smekday

Before reading Adam Rex’s delicious banquet of pop culture skewers dipped in saucy social commentary and served alongside a heaping helping of warm, filling comfort food, the phrase "I love J.LO" had NEVER been part of my working vocabulary. Well folks…*burp*…I love J.LO. Now, I’m not referring to "Ms. Diva from the Block junky trunk", but rather the sweetest, charmingest, most Booviful Boov ever to invade Earth in search of oranges and urinal cakes: Smekday is definitely a feel gooder w [...]

If someone had told me that there’s a book about an alien invasion, featuring a girl on the run from the internment of humans in camps while she searches for her abducted mother, and it’s funny, and it’s for kids, I think that I would have called shenanigans. But, that’s exactly what this book is. Thank goodness I had no idea what this was about before I started, or I may not have given it a chance. Now that I’ve read it, I just want to push it off on everyone I know.Gratuity “Tip” [...]

4.5-5 stars. This book was such a hoot! (No, I didn't see the movie.) I've been meaning to read this book for ages, and when I stumbled across the audiobook narrated by Bahni Turpin (I'm a big fan of her work), well, it was a no-brainer. Bahni Turpin does a wonderful job voicing Gratuity "Tip" Tucci, really giving me a great sense of the character's humour, determination, integrity and love. As far as J.Lo was concerned, once I got over my initial surprise over his odd sentence construction and [...]

Pretty much my favorite children's book of the past few years, and one of my favorite books overall. It has such a sense of gamboling fun, even with the aliens are busy herding up humanity and shunting them off to states that they themselves don't particularly like. J-Lo, the alien character is charming, and I wish he could be my own friend. Rex put a lot of emotion into that lovable squat fireplug, and my only "J-Lo" related dismay is that while readers of this book might know that J-Lo named h [...]

The critics have spoken:"This is the bestest book in the whole widest world!!!" - Felix, The Other New York Review of Books"Two thumbs up! Way up or this one!" - Roger Fleabert & Gene Whiskel, At the LibrariesI leave it to the reader of this review to go and find out why the cat world raves about this book, and I'll leave it to Steve's and Ceridwen's reviews to clinch the intention to read this funny, touching and intelligent book.For my part, I'm going to send this off to my nieces ASAP as [...]

"The Boov jumped off his antler spool and went back inside the MoPo."I think I'm going to memorize this line. And next time someone asks me a question I don't want to answer, I'm gonna hit 'em with the Boov. Smekday is funny, silly, and entertaining. Gratuity/Tip is a terrific heroine, spunky and anxious and bold. But my favorite character was J.Lo. Who knew Boov could be so big-hearted? (Plus, who knew urinal cakes were apparently so delicious?)Although it's a bit long for a read-aloud, I can't [...]

I got this book at one of my favorite bookstores of all time: A small, charming little shop in Redlands, CA called The Frugal Frigate. I don't live there anymore, but back in 2008 my mom and I were in town and I stopped by the store for old time's sake.The store had since been bought out by an older couple, but they had maintained its comfortable, cozy charm. Nothing had changed since I'd last visited, and that meant more to me than anything in the world. I'd be heartbroken if anything was diffe [...]

If I had to describe this book in a word, I'd call it a romp. It's fun, it's funny, it's a fast-paced adventure. And it's very clever. Too clever, in fact; one gets the impression that the author is very impressed with himself, and cracks himself up with how witty and clever he can be. Somewhere on GoodReads, I saw a description of a book (don't recall which one) as "it's like a friend's little brother--he's really funny and entertaining for a little while, and then you want him to go away." Tha [...]

This is one of the funniest, constantly entertaining books I've read in a long time, kids book or otherwise. The narrator is a brilliantly sarcastic young girl, the alien J-Lo is a riot, and the premise never gets tired. I kept waiting for some sappy "kids book" ending to mar the climax, but it never got bad. I'm going to buy a copy to own, just so I can re-read it to Mulzer again.

As a reader, there's a certain type of book I dream about: one that somehow manages to be smart and funny and meaningful. Adam Rex's The True Meaning of Smekday is—wonder of wonders!—just such a book. Don't feel bad if you've never heard of it, however, because it also happens to be a kids' book. But it's one that can be appreciated just as easily by adults, who are just as likely to enjoy the novel's fantastic narrative voice and sharp sense of humor, and may get even more out of Smekday's [...]

In the wreckage of America post alien invasion, an eleven-year-old girl sets off on an epic road trip with one of the invaders and a catG. OMG OMG my feels, I can't. This is hilarious and sad and wonderful and quirky. I giggled, I sniffled, I gasped. I got my feels everywhere, which doesn't happen for just any old book.Basically, if you are a sucker for very brave, very angry little girls; if two people tentatively reaching out from opposite sides of a war and a language barrier and a lot of rag [...]

Oh my word. I need to have children so I can read this to them. Who wants to make some reading-ready children with me? Stephanie? Stephanie?

A marvelous and very funny science fiction comedy in which eleven-year-old Gratuity "Tip" Tucci tells the story of how Earth was colonized by aliens, and she ended up traveling cross-country in search of her mother in a flying car called Slushious, in the company of a conflicted alien named J. Lo.This book has all sorts of elements which I normally hate, from cutesy pop culture references to heavy-handed messages ("colonialism is bad") to mocking Disneyland (easy target). Amazingly, I loved it a [...]

"Most everyone thinks of Smekday as the day the Boov arrived, and as the day they left, one year later. But the longer they've been gone, the less I care about that. The Boov weren't anything special. They were just people. They were too smart and too stupid to be anything else." This is the best, funniest allegory for Manifest Destiny, colonialism, and privilege that you will ever, ever read. Yes, there are cartoons. Yes, there is an entire page that is only the word "meow" repeated. Yes, the a [...]

It took me a bit to get into this one, but perhaps that was because I picked it up 100% convinced it was going to be my new favorite book in the world before I read a single character. As soon as J.Lo appeared I was HOOKED. His Balki-an charm, urinal cake eating habits, and hysterical integrated "The History of the Boov" mini-comics won me over in no time. I've been a fan of Rex's picture books for years with a lovely collection of signed books on my shelf, each one received while I was red-face [...]

Solicité este libro para reseña porque (y sonará un poco superfluo) me encantó la portada, lo cual me hizo leer la sinopsis y desear leerlo. Lo inicié y me estaba encantando así que fui al cine a ver Home, la película y la amé, reí y casi lloré y me la viví intentando hablar como el Buv :D Lo sé, es raro, a mi edad, pero me encantó como no se imaginan, de modo que tomé el libro de nuevo y lo terminé rapidísimo. ¿Y saben qué? La película y el libro son completamente diferentes. [...]

It's been a year since the aliens left, and the National Time Capsule committee is collecting essays on The True Meaning of Smekday, one of which will be chosen to go into the capsule and unearthed in one year. What aliens? What is Smekday? We're about to find out, through the essay of (then) 11-year-old Gratuity Tucci, who lived through the invasion. The True Meaning of Smekday has been described as "truly wonderful" and "snappy". I was really hoping for a story like that, but I try to keep my [...]

This book is actually a very very long essay written by Middle School student Gratuity Tucci for a contest, the winning essay of which will be placed in a time capsule to be opened in 100 years - in 2113. In it, Gratuity (Tip to her friends) describes the invasion of the Boov and the subsequent relocation of all humans to Florida (and then to Arizona, as the Boov decide they want Florida for themselves). Tip's mother was taken by the aliens early on, and so 12-year-old Tip takes her cat and driv [...]

[Review originally posted on LiveJournal, 2007/08/09]I loved this book SO MUCH I can hardly find words to tell you. An 11-year-old girl named Gratuity, her cat Pig, and an utterly adorable alien who answers to "J.Lo" end up taking a road trip across the southern USA in a souped-up hovercar to find Gratuity's missing mother and incidentally maybe save the world -- this is a book full of quirky delights and unexpected depths, not to mention some pretty incisive social commentary (albeit deftly han [...]

This is a delightful book—one that manages to not only be engaging and funny, but also smart! How many young adult books are there that are really biting, clever satires on the colonisation of foreign cultures, race and ethnicity which aren't Books With a Moral? (Same goes for adult books, I suppose.) Set in 2013, it follows eleven-year-old Gratuity Tucci, her cat Pig and a renegade alien called J.Lo who set off across America in an attempt to save the world from the alien Boov, and from anoth [...]

Oh, Smekday, my forever girl. I love this book. I adore it. I'm always an obnoxious book proselytizer (mention a book and watch me rec! forever!), but this book cranked me up to 11. I forced people to read it. I bought a copy for a bed-bound friend. I read this out loud to my Best Beloved. I LOVE THIS BOOK. I love Tip, I love the alien races, I love the humor, I love the edges hidden inside the humor. I love all the characters, particularly J.Lo, hapless alien repairperson and brave friend to Ti [...]

yourhappinesslife El libro es muy gracioso, tiene momentos de lo más surrealista y extraños, además Buv es una monada y su forma de hablar junto con sus ocurrencias y errores me hacían reír mucho.El final me ha sorprendido, sobretodo la viñeta, este autor tiene un toque único. Asique lo recomiendo mucho.Una aventura llena de momentos graciosos y una gran compañía. Acompaña a estos peculiares personajes en su lucha contra los otros extraterrestres invasores.

I am for reals on an audiobook roll. The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex narrated by Bahni Turpin is one of the most hilarious, heartfelt, and engaging audiobooks that I’ve had the pleasure to listen to. Seriously, if you aren’t sure about audiobooks, introduce your ears to The True Meaning Of Smekday.Read the rest of my review here

Brilliantly hilarious, moving, clever, exciting, witty, surprising . . . I've run out of adjectives! A superb book. Read it immediately, if you haven't already.(It has teleporters in it too, as an added bonus.)

So get this:This is a book about colonization and cultural appropriation that predominantly features People of Colour as the main characters.IKR! Wuuuuuuuut.Rex is a genius. He’s pulled from historical (and current day) examples of colonialism and violent takeovers and just imported them into an alien invasion. You’re reading along thinking “WTF, they can’t ‘give us’ Florida and pretend it’s a huge gift, it was ours to begin with and we won’t all…”There are a couple of things [...]

I love this book! Here's the deal: the Boov invade earth. The tell humans that they all have to move to certain parts of Earth so that the Boov can have the rest (Americans get to move to Florida) and they sign treaties to show they're serious about their promises. Only they end up liking Florida, so all the Americans have to move to Arizona. The Boov reckon humans can have that forever. Maybe.(A children's book with an allegory for the colonization of Native lands? Be still my heart!)Amid all t [...]

I truthfully loved this book! It only took me two days to read this novel. I could not put it down. I would recommend this book for readers age ten through fifteen. The genre of this book is science fiction, but is unlike other novels that have futuristic machines and laser guns. Adam Rex illustrates and writes this book amazingly. He included comics and pictures that really gave the books a new perspective and depth. The only disappointment with “Smekday” was the story line was hard to foll [...]

Fun and tasty! Like eating popcorn, and now and then crunching on something hard, not cracking-teeth hard, but stop-and-make-you-think-hard. This is my favorite road-trip-with-aliens adventure (and I've read a few). If you were about to pick up Going Bovine, put that honker down (gently, it's heavy) and read this instead. This also gets an A+ for consistent and amusing fictional dialect, a winner for language buffs and fans of The Phantom Tollbooth. And congrats to you for the Iowa Children's Ch [...]

Gratuity "Tip" Tucci has been assigned to write an essay called, "The True Meaning of Smekday," with the winning essay to be placed in a time capsule. What is Smekday? That is the day the aliens called Boovs arrived and renamed Christmas after their leader, Smek. That was also the night Tip's mother was abducted by the Boov. Tip writes about how, 6 months after the first Smekday, all humans were asked to relocate to Florida. Being 11 years old and alone (except for her cat Pig), Tip decides to d [...]

When I think about this book, I keep coming back to the word "originality." It's hard to define. It's difficult to put this book in a box. It stars a twelve-year-old, but the humor is way above elementary level. It's an episodic road trip book about an alien invasion and the nature of family. There is satire and there is slapstick. There is so much going on in this book. I love that Adam Rex made the whole package. The illustrations, the text, even the dang cover. I love the theme of chosen fami [...]