REVENGE OF THE STAR SURVIVORS

Clark Alexander is a star explorer who has crash-landed on an alien planet; he is keeping a log and issuing distress signals, waiting for the mother ship to come rescue him. No, not really: Clark is actually a bookish thirteen-year-old who has moved to a new town and started a new school mid-year and, in his misery, just pretends he has come from a galaxy far, far away. In his first few hours in his new school he is mocked by thugs, downgraded by a computer, threatened by the principal, and viciously attacked by a door. Things go downhill from there until he starts to make friends in low places - kids as alternately invisible or tormented as he is- friends who can help him stand up for himself and for them, if not actually make it back to the mother ship.

A sweet and affecting novel about (not) fitting in, STAR SURVIVORS is a fun and witty debut with a real heart, calling to mind Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Ready Player One.