If there is a book that has caused much hue and cry, ups and downs in the reading journey of a book club, it is this book hands down!
Stepping away from the real world to a world that could have aliens somehow excited everyone in one of the batches of the Young Readers' Club. That's how we ended up reading the "Alien Next Door" Series. Zeke is an alien who arrives on earth with his parents who are researchers. They pretend to be humans by acquiring the same form and try living the same way as the human beings. Zeke is often clueless about many practices, ideas and traditions that are so common across schools. Life gets a little easier when a friend, Harris, discovers that he is an alien and even accepts it. They decide to keep it a secret and Harris even makes sure that Zeke doesn't accidentally use his powers. As an adult, I must admit having felt several times that the plot is lame. But as a book club facilitator who looks for tangible benefits from any book and a potential for a book to bring children together in merry, I could not discount this book.
Over time, I have come to the realisation that this is a book that brings forth the value of friendship, being new in a new school, the apprehensions and struggles that come along with that situation until the point when one makes a good friend are the hallmarks of this highly imaginative series.
The young readers love analysing each character personality, devising their own theories about the plot, many of which tend to be quite out of the box. On the whole this series has enabled them to freely express themselves in group discussions as well as in writing.
While the book itself provides ammunition for anti gravity events, the young readers chose not to use the same tactics as they created an imaginary planet and imagined what it would be like to be an alien. It was wonderful to see a sense of childishness and fun in their writing. It reminded me of how children tend to make everything look simple in their world.
The young readers love analysing each character personality, devising their own theories about the plot, many of which tend to be quite out of the box. On the whole this series has enabled them to freely express themselves in group discussions as well as in writing.
Here are few snippets from the written discussion.
"Zarius, A planet that is opposite to the way things are on earth. Here, candy is considered healthy while fruits and vegetables are not eaten. I go to a gaming school where I get straight As except for Minecraft and Roblox, in which I get D..."
"I have been selected to be a part of ISRO. I work on the Neptune mission and after 10 years, my team and I land on Neptune. To our surprise there are strange beings talking gibberish and munching on yucky uncooked food. Scared we decide to get back but the hydraulics in our spacecraft has failed. The engineer takes awhile to fix it while the rest of us continue being terrified...finally it is time to take off."
"The food would be out of this world, literally! I bet there would be delicious alien fruits that taste like a mix of all my favorite flavors. "
It was wonderful to see a sense of childishness and fun in their writing. It reminded me of how children tend to make everything look simple in their world.
Listening to them read their responses brought back memories of the very beautiful poem by Rabindranath Tagore, "Playthings"
Playthings
Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust, playing with a broken twig all the morning. I smile at your play with that little bit of a broken twig. I am busy with my accounts, adding up figures by the hour. Perhaps you glance at me and think, "What a stupid game to spoil your morning with!" Child, I have forgotten the art of being absorbed in sticks and mud-pies. I seek out costly playthings, and gather lumps of gold and silver. With whatever you find you create your glad games, I spend both my time and my strength over things I never can obtain. In my frail canoe I struggle to cross the sea of desire, and forget that I too am playing a game.
Now when I look back at the times when I wanted to give up on this book and always ponder how these young readers have changed my mind. They showed me another perspective, another way to enjoy this series. As we read book after book in this series, the young readers bring forth new experiences making our reading together experience even more enriching. Nowadays I keep reading with them, curious to find out which new direction a given book in this series is likely to take and what they will have to say about the turn of events in the book as we move further.
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Both weekday and weekend batches are available at the Young Readers' Club. While this program is for the 8-12 age group, the Young Writers' Club program for the 13-15 age group offers a weekly platform to read and discuss curated articles from the news, observe writing approaches and practise one's writing skills.
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