The Truth Out There [Hardcover]

DK Publishing (Author), Celia Rees (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

A thriller about aliens and Area 51-and about accepting people for who they are. No one ever mentions Uncle Patrick. He died years ago, still a boy-and there's no grave. There are no photos. There are no letters. There's nothing to prove that he ever lived. Joshua had thought he was in for a boring summer, stuck taking care of his ailing grandmother in her dusty house, crowded with memories and junk. Then he finds Uncle Patrick's ancient stash of UFO magazines and his eerily detailed paintings of alien ships. As he discovers more and more about the mysteries of a summer long ago, Joshua realized that his newest computer game, AlienState 3, is retelling the story of Patrick's life. Who could know these secrets, hidden away for so many years? Who would want to reveal them now? Has Joshua stumbled onto a family secret? Or has he uncovered something bigger?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10-Josh, 13, and his mother, Joanna, are spending part of the summer at the village home of Josh's ailing grandmother. At first, the boy is sorry to leave London and his friends, but he soon becomes involved in a quest to learn more about his late uncle Patrick, who died when he was Josh's age. The family refuses to speak of Patrick, but Josh and Katherine, the 16-year-old next door, accidentally stumble upon a memoir that Joanna is writing. As the teens learn more about her childhood and those of her siblings, they begin to notice an unmistakable parallel between the tragic events of the past and a futuristic computer game that they are playing. They eventually discover that Patrick had a condition similar to autism and was committed to an institution by his father. Josh is able to help his mother and uncle come to terms with their brother's illness and be reunited with Patrick, who is in fact alive and living nearby. Rees does a marvelous job of injecting an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty into the novel from the beginning. Dialogue, plot, and characters are notable for their authenticity and originality, yet the descriptive sentences are sometimes awkward and read more like detailed notes than coherent passages. The cover art, although eye-catching, is misleading as it shows a young Patrick confronting what appears to be an alien, and it may repel teens in search of realistic fiction. An original, intelligent novel from a fresh voice in YA literature.
Leah J. Sparks, Bowie Public Library, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. Rees weaves together two stories that take place a generation apart. In one, a modern British teenager, Josh, who loves computer games, pries into skeletons in his family's closet. The second concerns Josh's mother's dysfunctional family at the dawn of the Space Age, especially two brothers: one fascinated by aliens; the other, Patrick, having a condition (actually a form of autism) not understood at the time. When tragedy shatters the neighborhood, strange Patrick is blamed and sent to an institution where he is said to have died. When Josh recognizes elements in his newest computer game that only Patrick could have created, the two stories come together. Readers expecting aliens will be disappointed, and the opening chapters are slow going. The convoluted mystery is filled with family drama, however, and the British perspective on the space race, Roswell, etc., is intriguing. Teens who liked Dennis Haseley's Getting Him (1994), a less complex novel with a similar setting and themes, may want to give this a go. Catherine Andronik
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789426684
• ISBN-13: 978-0789426680
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,496,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Celia Rees was born in Solihull, West Midlands, UK. She studied History and Politics at Warwick University and then went on to teach English in city comprehensive schools for seventeen years. She now divides her time between writing, talking to readers in schools and libraries, and teaching creative writing.

She has written many books for older children and teenagers, and has become a leading writer for Young Adults with an international reputation. Her books have been translated into 28 languages and she has been short listed for the Guardian, Whitbread and W.H. Smith Children's Book Awards, as well as numerous regional awards in the UK and America. Witch Child won the prestigious Prix Sorcières in France in 2003, and the Di Cento Prize in Italy, 2001. Her latest book, The Fool's Girl, publishes in the U.S. in July, 2010

Celia lives in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, with her husband, Terry. Her daughter, Catrin, now lives and works in London.

To learn more about Celia and her books, visit her website at: www.celiarees.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Asperger's And Beyond!, March 19, 2005

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Truth Out There (Hardcover)

Joshua Parker, 13 is not anticipating the summer of 1998. His maternal grandmother is near death and he does not relish the thought of spending the summer in her house instead of home. Joshua's mother insists he join her on this mission as Joshua's older sister Maggie and father have prior commitments.

Joshua literally walks into a house of secrets. He learns that he had an uncle named Patrick who supposedly died the late summer of 1959. His Uncle Paul and mother Joanna have little information to share about this mysterious uncle. Joshua however discovers a box and a trail of clues. He finds a series of old comics drawn by his uncle; he finds a crawl space in the attic where his uncle liked to get away from it all. From a series of enigmatic notebooks and brilliantly crafted drawings, Joshua learns that this mysterious uncle was an avid astronomer and had a keen interest in anything to do with UFOs.

More clues come from a computer game Joshua receives as a gift and also on files chronicling the summer of 1959 on Joanna's computer. Enlisting the help of a neighbor girl, the pair unravel a series of interlocking clues that lead them to...Joshua's uncle!

This is a wonderful book that incorporates several genres. It is a delightful, brilliantly written novel that is part mystery, part science fiction and horror. I also like the way the author gives an excellent definition of Asperger's Syndrome and the affect AS has on behavior; communication and sensory responses/processing, as was evidenced in Joshua's Uncle Patrick and his paternal grandfather. Indeed, many of the behaviors the grandfather was reported as having fit on the autism/Asperger's (a/A) spectrum. The grandfather ruled with an iron fist and after 1959, nobody was to mention Patrick in any way, shape or form. He became a virtual memory.

Thanks to a series of letters the grandmother saved dated 1992-1997; a dogged lawyer; an angel of a doctor; neighbors and an enigmatic computer game and the work of the two Computer Sleuths, mysteries are solved and old ghosts and misperceptions are put to rest.

4.0 out of 5 stars diffrent ending the you expect, June 11, 2002

By 

YVETTE MOHILL "teefus" (chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Truth Out There (Hardcover)

this was a great book the ending which i wont realive here is totaly differnt the i expected. the chacter with aspergers seems very rralstic you can tell the author study the disorder befrore she wrote the book,

4.0 out of 5 stars An alien story that will twist your mind, February 3, 2002

By 

Erika Soeterik (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Truth Out There (Hardcover)

Joshua and his mother have traveled to her childhood home to look after her mother. She has had a series of strokes, and she needs to be looked after. Being in the house reminds Joshua's mum of her childhood - and her oldest brother Patrick. As a release for her grief and tension, she begins to write down her story. Joshua finds the file and reads each installment - only to realise that what he is reading matches the storyline of his newest computer game. Joshua is driven to find the creator of AlienState 3 - but the truth may be harder than fiction.

The only good thing about the whole thing is that at least Joshua gets to take his computer with him. Things get really strange though after Joshua finds the file that his mother starts writing about the last time she spent with her older brother Patrick. It is a tragic tale and one that takes her a long time to share. This book is hard hitting in one way, even though overall the story is a little bit corny. I enjoyed most parts of it, even though a few bits were cliched.