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Summary
Summary
The campaign is going well. The SPHDZ word is getting out. 1000's of kids have signed up to say they are SPHDZ. But things haven't gotten any easier for Michael K. The SPHDZ are still trying to blend in to our Earth culture, but not very successfully. They're still mixing up Thanksgiving, cartoon plots, holidays, and commercials. This makes it especially hard for Michael K. to both hide the SPHDZ from Agent Umber and accomplish the SPHDZ Mission. He's forced to enlist the help of fellow fifth graders, Venus and TJ.
When they (Michael K. and the SPHDZ) are given the assignment to write and perform the school play, Umber thinks he's closing in on the aliens...the kindergartners playing the turkeys.
Author Notes
Jon Scieszka was born September 8, 1954 in Flint , Michigan. After he graduated from Culver Military Academy where he was a Lieutenant, he studied to be a doctor at Albion College. He changed career directions and attended Columbia University where he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1980. Before he became a full time writer, Scieszka was a lifeguard, painted factories, houses, and apartments and also wrote for magazines. He taught elementary school in New York for ten years as a 1st grade assistant, a 2nd grade homeroom teacher, and a computer, math, science and history teacher in 3rd - 8th grade.
He decided to take off a year from teaching in order to work with Lane Smith, an illustrator, to develop ideas for children's books. His book, The Stinky Cheese Man received the 1994 Rhode Island Children's Book Award. Scieszka's Math Curse, illustrated by Lane Smith, was an American Library Association Notable Book in 1996; a Blue Ribbon Book from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books in 1995; and a Publisher's Weekly Best Children's Book in 1995. The Stinky Cheese Man received Georgia's 1997 Children's Choice Award and Wisconsin's The Golden Archer Award. Math Curse received Maine's Student Book Award, The Texas Bluebonnet Award and New Hampshire's The Great Stone Face Book Award in 1997. He was appointed the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress in 2008. In 2014 his title, Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor made The New York Times Best Seller List. Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger made the list in 2015.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Michael K. and space aliens Jen, Bob, and Major Fluffy (former class hamster) continue their quest to save the world by getting 3.14 million kids to sign up on the spaceheadz website. This time Jen's dramatic reaction to a blob of blueberry yogurt causes electromagnetic chaos and leads AAA Agent Umber to P.S. 858. Two of Michael K.'s tech-savvy classmates, Venus and TJ, join in to help beef up the website and run the kindergarten production of "Little Red Riding Hood," while Umber tries to find the aliens using one crazy disguise after another. Jen and Bob are the hyper and exhausting kind of aliens, speaking in advertising slogans and ready to use WWF moves at the drop of a hat, which makes sense, since it turns out that they are about five years old in Spaceheadz years. The book includes new websites plus updates to the originals and odd bits of information about camouflage and mimicry. Buy where Book #1 (S & S, 2010) is popular.-Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Fifth-grader Michael K. is still trying to keep the alien agents' identities on the down-low in order to protect them from Anti-Alien Agent Umber; he's also trying to recruit more kids to his cause of helping save the world. Funny, fast-paced, and full of goofy pop-culture references, the second series entry will entertain Scieszka's fans and the not-yet-converted. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
his quest to find the aliens in or near Brooklyn PS 858. Michael K. has some help in new friends Venus and TJ, but the whole group has to act as Big Buddies to the kindergarteners and help with their class play, while Spaceheadz General Accounting has given them one hour to get 1 million new Spaceheadz (thank goodness one Spaceheadz hour equals 700 Earth hours). Can they boost recruitment without giving themselves away? Will Agent Umber ever succeed at anything? Will the plumbing at PS 858 survive the surplus World War II rations the kids all eat? The second volume in Scieszka and Prigmore's nutty, antic series offers more goofy fun with some pretty obvious setup for episode three. The integrated websites will be updated and supplemented to extend the laughs. CLINICALLY PROVEN entertainment for fans old and new! (Fiction. 7-10)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This follow-up to Spaceheadz (2010) continues the adventures of fifth-grader Michael K. and the influx of aliens, named in the title, who pose as students. The joke-filled, intentionally disjointed, postmodern narration eventually involves the Spaceheadz in a kindergarten play. Bumbling Agent Umber, who fancies himself a master of disguise, pursues the SPHDZ, and along the way, sidebars offer witty facts on the natural and manmade worlds of camouflage. Lots of humor leads this multiplatform effort with links to Web sites that are sure to expand the series' fan base.--Morning, Todd Copyright 2010 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
The two aliens attacked P.S. 858 before the first morning bell. They waved their slimy purple tentacles. They blasted laser bolts into the air. And, weirdly enough, they waved large shopping bags decorated with orange pumpkins. A whole pile of kindergartners ran screaming into school. A couple first and second graders tried to hide behind the monkey bars. It was chaos, panic, and more chaos. Michael K. and most of the fifth graders stood back in their usual corner of the playground. They were trapped. Caught between the metal chain-link fence on either side and the fearsome purple and orange aliens in front of them. "We are going to die!" yelled Ryan. "Every man for himself!" yelled Jose. The aliens slimed closer, cutting off any escape. That's when Michael K. saw the third little hamster-size alien poking his head out of one of the shopping bags. He suddenly knew exactly who these aliens were. "Oh, no," said Michael K. The little alien waved a tentacle at Michael K. Classmate Venus saw the little wave to Michael K. Venus gave Michael K. a punch in the arm. "What the heck is going on? Do you know these aliens?" "Well," said Michael K. "Not really. Kind of. Maybe?" "What?" said Venus. The aliens raised their laser blasters. Michael K. shook his head in confusion. How had this gone so terribly wrong? The Spaceheadz had been getting better at blending in lately. Maybe they still weren't completely good at acting like real people. And the sphdz.com website wasn't getting as many hits as they had hoped.… But that was no reason to completely freak out and just go all alien-blaster-attack crazy on everybody. This would completely blow their cover. This would be sure to attract the Anti-Alien Agency, AAA for short. This would be sure to get Earth turned off. There was no way Michael K. was going to be able to fix this mess. The first bell rang. Mrs. Halley appeared in the back door. "What in the world?" The alien with the funny hair turned toward Mrs. Halley. Michael K. covered his eyes. Michael K. knew that life on planet Earth might soon be over. He just didn't want to see it end this way. © 2010 JRS Worldwide LLC Excerpted from SPHDZ Book #2! by Jon Scieszka All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
