Aliens Ate My Homework [Paperback]

Bruce Coville (Author)

Book Description

Series: Alien Adventures

It's the weirdest alien invasion ever!

"I cannot tell a lie," says Rod Allbright. And it's the truth. Ask him a question, and he's bound to give you an honest answer. Which is why when his teacher asks what happened to last night's math assignment, Rod has to give the only answer he can: "Aliens ate my homework, Miss Maloney!"

Of course, no one believes Rod this time, so they don't bother to ask him why the aliens are here -- which is just as well, since he is sworn to silence about their secret mission; and the fact that he has been drafted to help them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This zany caper showcases Coville's ( My Teacher Is an Alien ) ability to make the unbelievable close to credible. The young hero, down-to-earth Rod Allbright, doesn't quite believe his eyes when a small blue spaceship flies through his bedroom window and lands in a vat of papier-mache he is using for a science project. Within minutes the startled boy meets the spaceship's curious crew, and is recruited to become an integral player in their mission to apprehend an alien criminal whose specialty is cruelty. As it turns out, Rod knows too well how cruel this culprit can be, as he has been posing as the bullying Billy Becker, Rod's archenemy at school. After several surprises and funny moments (as Billy turns in his math assignment, he is horrified to see that one of the aliens hiding in his desk has chewed on it so that it resembles a lace doily), the plot ends with Billy (literally) getting his comeuppance, as the aliens carry him off to a faraway planet. Coville's typically high-spirited entertainment will appeal equally to girls and boys. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Sixth-grader Ron Allbright can't tell a lie, so when his teacher asks him why his math homework looks like Swiss cheese, he tells the unbelievable truth: an alien ate it. Who would credit such stuff? Nobody--except class bully Billy Becker, actually an alien criminal sought by the members of the Galactic Patrol whose spaceship has crashed through Ron's bedroom window. With obvious delight in things absurd--android parents, talking plants, and little green extraterrestrials--Coville conducts readers on a merry chase, with Ron at the hub. Bound to ring in Coville's fans, this lively sf frolic is an agreeable mix of suspense and comedy with an animated cast of people and other worldly sorts that kids will love rooting for and against. Stephanie Zvirin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671727125
• ISBN-13: 978-0671727123
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,413,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Coville was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1950. His family lived in farm territory, about twenty miles north of Syracuse. Bruce grew up around the corner from his grandparents' dairy farm, where he spent a great deal of time as a child, dodging cows and chores to the best of his ability. As a young reader he loved Mary Poppins and Dr. Dolittle, and still has fond memories of rising ahead of the rest of his family so he could huddle in a chair and read THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE. He also read lots of things that people consider junk (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and zillions of comic books). His only real regret is the time he spent watching television, when he could have been reading instead. (A mind is a terrible thing to waste!)

His first book, THE FOOLISH GIANT, was published in 1978. It was illustrated by his wife, Katherine, whom he had married in 1969. This was followed in 1979 by SARAH'S UNICORN, also illustrated by Katherine. After a long period of working separately, the Covilles began collaborating again with SPACE BRAT and GOBLINS IN THE CASTLE, both published in 1992.

Before getting published Bruce earned his living as a toymaker, a gravedigger, a cookware salesman, an assembly line worker, and finally as an elementary school teacher (second and fourth grades). He left teaching in 1981 to devote himself to becoming a full time writer - though it took another five years to achieve that goal!)

Bruce has published nearly 100 books, which have appeared in over a dozen countries around the world and sold more than sixteen million copies. Among his most popular titles are MY TEACHER IS AN ALIEN, INTO THE LAND OF THE UNICORNS, and THE MONSTER'S RING. In 2001 he founded Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company dedicated to creating unabridged, full cast recordings of the best in children's and young adult literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Number 2 in my top ten favorite books of all time, October 15, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" (Plainfield) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aliens Ate My Homework (Paperback)

For me, this rates among the ranks of the Harry Potter books. Even though I'm about 5 grades above the reading level for this book, I laugh every ten pages, on average. I read this book like four years ago, and it's even better the second time.

Rod Allbright is the most honest person you'll ever meet. He can't tell a lie if his life depended on it. This causes him some trouble, as you might imagine, but not as much as the aliens on the good ship FERKEL who come crash-landing through his window. These are Captain Grakker, Madame Pong, Tar Gibbons (a gibbon is actually a real-life tropical Asian ape with a slender body and long arms), Snout, and Phil. Soon Ron is drafted to the position of Deputy to help them arrest the interstellar criminal BKR.

The book starts off pretty quick--not even twenty pages pass before the aliens land. However, the action is not immediate. This gives us a good chance to meet the characters, instead of just watching them run from explosions and stuff. And they are all pretty well-developed, with the possible exception of Phil, since he only has twenty or thirty lines altogether.

Bruce Coville's is some of the best writing I've ever seen. There's so many little details and subtle messages that really help the book move and add depth to the characters. At the same time, he remembers that a kid is thinking this, and fills it with realistic boyish wonder and actions. Well, except not being able to ever tell a lie. But hey, that's what makes Rod Rod.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even a slight interest in bizarre. It's the fine writing from Bruce Coville seen here that makes me wonder why that haven't adapted any of his works into a movie.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Aliens Ate My Homework, Miss Maloney!", February 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Aliens Ate My Homework (Hardcover)

This book is about Rod Allbright, a boy who just can't lie. Ask him a question, and you're sure to get a good answer. Well, at school, He has a big enemy named Billy Becker, A tiny little kid who can beat up every kid in the sixth grade. You would think Rod would fight back, but he can't fight. But all this bad luck changes when a minuture alien ship comes, with a few visitors in it. Soon Rod gets to get fond of them, and feels like he wants them to stay. Well, they do stay, because they need to catch a high-security criminal who did the worst crime in all of the Galaxy: cruelty. And his name is BKR (Bee Kay Are). This story is a great book with lots of wonders. I hope you, too, will read this book and find out the fun of it all!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the book is adventure, June 3, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Aliens Ate My Homework (Paperback)

The book is like a mystery. The genre of this book is fiction. I will recommand this book to some one who likes mysteries book. The book is about a kid that found aliens in his house. The aliens were scared of them. One of the aliens were pointing a gun at Rod's head. My favorite part of the book is when the other aliens were shooting at Rod. The character is Rod and the aliens.