Every child, with any amount of imagination, has wished for an alien friend, especially kids who are a little shy and lonely. In Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth by Frank Cottrell Boyce, Prez is a shy and sensitive boy who is living in foster care for the time being until he can go back to his grandfather. An alien lands at the door of the little farm where Prez lives with the Blythes. While Prez is startled by the presence of the alien, the rest of the family is excited seeing the dog. Yes, to everyone else, Sputnik is a dog and Prez is the only one who can see it as an alien!

Sputnik is on a mission to earth — to save it from destruction if Prez can give it ten good reasons for doing so. Now why does Sputnik wants to save the earth? Well, we need a bit of some history lesson here.

In reality, Sputnik was a spacecraft that the Russians sent to space which had a dog Laika on it. Using this actual event as the background, the writer wants us to believe that Laika met and befriended this alien in space and convinced it to come and save the earth from eminent destruction and now that alien has come to earth in the shape of a dog, like Laika, and is our friend Sputnik.

But there is a catch here — Sputnik asks Prez to first come up with ten things that make this planet worth saving. Now this shouldn’t be too difficult, but in reality it isn’t too easy either as chips and vinegar, chickens and eggs, the TV remote control and such things are shortlisted for this prestigious list. As Prez looks for what is really meaningful on earth, and in life, he and the readers learn some subtle lessons about what are the really important things in life, such as family and home.

Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth has a lot of humour that young readers will enjoy because our alien friend has special powers that are constantly on display. A good book for children by all accounts.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 6th, 2017