Hurd, Thatcher.
BONGO FISHING
New York : Henry Holt, 2011
IL 5-8, RL 5.9
ISBN 0805091009

Have you ever wondered if aliens really exist? Could there be life on other planets and in galaxies far, far away? Well, this isn’t something that Jason Jameson has ever really thought about. He’s much more interested in cars. In fact, he knows quite a bit about cars. One day while walking home from school, Jason hears a loud screeching sound in the sky. He looks up and sees something hurtling right towards him. He starts to freak out, but it just stops and hovers there in the air.  Then whatever the thing is crashes into an empty lot behind a pile of dirt. Now Jason is thinking, “What in the world was that? Should I go check it out?” He decides to investigate. And what does he find? A beat-up 1960 Dodge Dart, which is a car by the way. That has fallen out of the sky. Not only that, but the driver looks pretty weird. He’s really short and old. And blue. And he asks Jason if this is Earth. Now, Jason has seen some pretty strange characters in Berkeley before. But, an alien? This old blue guy says his name is Sam and he is from the Pleiades, hundreds of light-years away. And now, he needs Jason’s help to get back home. And perhaps he will repay him with a bongo fishing trip. Should Jason trust Sam and take a ride in the Dodge Dart space ship? Is Jason putting himself in danger by hanging out with an alien? If you want to know more about Jason’s interstellar adventure, you will need to read Bongo Fishing by Thacher Hurd.  (Booktalk by Elizabeth Daigle for 2014 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice nominee)