The Day of the Ness (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author), Michael Gilbert (Author, Illustrator)

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Product Description

Nine-year-old Hal traces a frantic S.O.S. to a group of friendly space aliens held captive inside a mountain by the evil Ness who plan to take over the world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Diving Under

All I've ever wanted is for Juli Baker to leave me alone For her to back off-you know, just give me some space.

It all started the summer before second grade when our moving van pulled into her neighborhood. And since we're now about done with the eighth grade, that, my friend, makes more than half a decade of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.

She didn't just barge into my life. She barged and shoved and wedged her way into my life. Did we invite her to get into our moving van and start climbing all over boxes? No! But that's exactly what she did, taking over and showing off like only Juli Baker can.

My dad tried to stop her. "Hey!" he says as she's catapulting herself on board. "What are you doing? You're getting mud everywhere!" So true, too. Her shoes were, like, caked with the stuff.

She didn't hop out, though. Instead, she planted her rear end on the floor and started pushing a big box with her feet. "Don't you want some help?" She glanced my Way. "It sure looks like you need it."

I didn't like the implication. And even though my dad had been tossing me the same sort of look all week, I could tell-he didn't like this girl either. "Hey! Don't do
that," he warned her. "There are some really valuable things in that box."

"Oh. Well, how about this one?" She scoots over to a box labeled LENox and looks my way again. "We should push it together!"

"No, no, no!" my dad says, then pulls her up by the arm. "Why don't you run along home? Your mother's probably wondering where you are."

This was the beginning of my soon-to-become-acute awareness that the girl cannot take a hint. Of any kind. Does she zip on home like a kid should when they've been invited to leave No. She says, "Oh, my mom knows where I am. She said it was fine." Then she points across the street and says, "We just live right over there."

My father looks to where she's pointing and mutters "Oh boy." Then he looks at me and winks as he says, "Bryce, isn't it time for you to go inside and help your mother?"

I knew right off that this was a ditch play. And I didn't think about it until later, but ditch wasn't a play I'd run with my dad before. Face it, pulling a ditch is not something discussed with dads. It's like, against parental law to tell your kid it's okay to ditch someone, no matter how annoying or muddy they might be.

But there he was, putting the play in motion, and man, he didn't have to wink twice. I smiled and said, "Sure thing!" then jumped off the liftgate and headed for my new front door.

I heard her coming after me but I couldn't believe it. Maybe it just sounded like she was chasing me; maybe she was really going the other way. But before I got up the nerve to look, she blasted right past me, grabbing my arm and yanking me along.

This was too much. I planted myself and was about to tell her to get lost when the weirdest thing happened. I was making this big windmill motion to break away from her, but somehow on the downswing my hand wound up tangling into hers. I couldn't believe it. There I was, holding the mud monkey's hand!

I tried to shake her off, but she just clamped on tight and yanked me along, saying, "C'mon!"

My mom came out of the house and immediately got the world's sappiest look on her face. "Well, hello," she says to Juli.

Hi!"

I'm still trying to pull free, but the girl's got me in a death grip. My mom's grinning, looking at our hands and my fiery red face. "And what's your name, honey?"

"Julianna Baker. I live right over there," she says, pointing with her unoccupied hand.

"Well, I see you've met my son," she says, still grinning away.

"Uh-huh!"

Finally I break free and do the only manly thing available when you're seven years old-I dive behind my mother.

Mom puts her arm around me and says, "Bryce, honey, why don't you show Julianna around the house?"

I flash her help and warning signals with every part of my body, but she's not receiving. Then she shakes me off and says, "Go on."

Juli would've tramped right in if my mother hadn't noticed her shoes and told her to take them off. And after those were off, my mom told her that her dirty socks had to go, too. Juli wasn't embarrassed. Not a bit. She just peeled them off and left them in a crusty heap on our porch.

I didn't exactly give her a tour. I locked myself in the bathroom instead. And after about ten minutes of yelling back at her that no, I wasn't coming out anytime soon, things got quiet out in the hall. Another ten minutes went by before I got the nerve to peek out the door.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Laurel Leaf (May 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440418488
• ISBN-13: 978-0440418481
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,209,415 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Nasty Ness, September 3, 2009

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Day of the Ness (Hardcover)

The Day of the Ness (1975) is a standalone SF novel for older children. It is set in the near future when lasers are used for hand weapons and scout cars fly without rotors.

In this novel, Hal is the nine year old son of a NASA trained scientist. His Dad has been investigating the crash of a small spaceship ten years before. Now only Dr. Wright, Hal and his Dad -- plus a few guards -- remain at the site.

Susie is Hal's cat. She is more alert than Hal, but has the sense to ignore problems that cannot be solved.

In this story, the scientists learned that alien creatures had escaped from the crashed ship. They discovered that the aliens would swap for small objects placed on the mountainside at Trade Rock. One of the trades had been a small radio and the aliens soon learned to use a modified morse code to communicate with the humans.

But then two local boys had snuck into the site and were grabbed by the alien Gotchas hiding under their rocks. The boys shot at the aliens and smashed at the Gotchas. The site guards caught the boys and took them back to the local jail, but the aliens quit communicating.

Today Hal is alone at the station -- except for Sargeant Homer at the gate -- when the aliens start signaling again on the radio. Hal leaves a note and hikes up the mountain with Susie to the Trade Rock. There he finds a metal notebook with morse code sketched on the pages. The message is as SOS about another set of aliens called the Ness.

Then a crack in the rocks opens up into a tunnel. Hal and Susie find a headless alien in the tunnel who can talk without speaking aloud. The Rav talks directly into Hal's mind and hears Hal's thoughts. It invites them to enter and takes them to a meeting of even more strange aliens.

This tale involves Hal and Susie in a battle to free these aliens from the Ness. The Ness are hostile and warlike. The friendly aliens are peaceful and not used to war. In fact, they are unused to making plans on their own. Hal offers to help the friendly aliens and soon is crawling around in the tight tunnels where the Ness cannot go.

Highly recommended for younger readers who enjoys tales of friendly aliens, brave boys and smart cats.

-Arthur W. Jordin

5.0 out of 5 stars an important life's lesson., September 23, 2009

By	Gunner (Bethlehem,Georgia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Day of the Ness
(1975)

In this delightful story you meet:

Hal

Gotcha's

Susie

The Great Think-Think

The Little Think-Think

The Rav

The Stalkers

The Cluster

And of Course the Ness

Hal is clearly the protagonist in this story from a Greek point of view.

Susie is the hero, in typical Andre Norton fashion, (she was a cat lover)

I highly recommend this book fort the younger Andre Norton aficionados, say about age 8 or so. It teaches an important life's lesson. The next Andre Norton juvenile is her Magic Series ( See my listmania ANDRE NORTON JUVENILES)

Gunner September, 2009
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4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of my earliest memories, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

I read this book as a child and it was my favorite book growing up. I must have checked it out of the library 25 times. Unfortunately, I remembered the story, but not the title. I had a vague recollection of the author, but could never find the title. Thanks to Amazon, I can now find a copy for my daughter (and read it again myself!).