Cover of Stuck on Earth

Stuck on Earth

Ketchvar III's mission is simple: travel to Planet Earth, inhabit the body of an average teenager, and determine if the human race should be annihilated. And so Ketchvar—who, to human eyes, looks just like a common snail—crawls into the brain of one Tom Filber and attempts to do his analysis. At first glance, Tom appears to be the perfect specimen—fourteen years old, good health, above average intelligence. But it soon becomes apparent that Tom Filber may be a little too average—gawky, awkward, and utterly abhorred by his peers. An alien within an alien's skin, Ketchvar quickly finds himself wrapped up in the daily drama of teenage life—infuriating family members, raging bullies, and undeniably beautiful next-door neighbors. And the more entangled Ketchvar becomes, the harder it is to answer the question he was sent to Earth to resolve: Should the Sandovinians release the Gagnerian Death Ray and erase the human species for good? Or is it possible that Homo sapiens really are worth saving?

Read more

Wickedly wry and hysterically skewed, David Klass's take on teen life on our fabulously flawed Planet Earth is an engrossing look at true friends, truer enemies, and awkward alien first kisses.

Stuck on Earthis a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Audience
young adultchildrensmiddle grade
Length
medium · 240 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Stuck on Earth? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Stuck on Earth. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Mothership Shares science fiction, young adult, humor
  2. Parasite Pig Shares science fiction, young adult, alien
  3. Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences Shares science fiction, young adult, alien
  4. The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion Shares young adult, science fiction, humor

“People who read Stuck on Earth tend to reach for these next.”

  1. How to Survive Middle School
  2. Little Blog on the Prairie
  3. Payback Time
  4. Brain Jack

“If you want more of the same (aliens and first contact about bullying), start with these.”

  1. A Stranger Thing
  2. Flying
  3. What Goes Up
  4. Interstellar Pig

“If it was the science fiction that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Crown
  2. Stray
  3. Moonwind
  4. The Heir

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. A Date With Angel: And Other Things That Weren't Supposed To Happen
  2. Compete
  3. Parasyte, Volume 6
  4. Galactic Burn