See You in the Cosmos

Bought this because reviews suggested it might be a good book for my year 5 class to do alongside their space topic. It's actually about a child misunderstanding an adult world so I feel there is too much inference needed to understand what is actually going on - so the reader needs to be older than the protagonist. I'd say it's ideal for young adults, but not for late primary school.

this book is a really interesting read for practicly anyone! the young boy is a very determined person and is following his dreams. this book teaches you to be brave and have a positive attitude. alex is really optimistic even in the hardest situations. its an excellent read. i personally loved it and i hope you do to. :)

Bought for daughter

Cute story

Alex is amazing. He’s so smart and independent and brave and optimistic, yet also naive and innocent and occasionally oblivious as he sets off on his adventure to launch a rocket into space with a golden iPod of sounds for aliens to listen to. He may be inspired by his hero, Carl Sagan, but along the way he seems to inspire plenty of adults as his quest shifts and changes direction, leading to questions about love, life, family and the universe.Written in a series of recordings, this book drew me in quickly and made for a page-turning read. Alex’s life isn’t easy. His mother is clearly suffering from mental illness (depression at the start, though by the end it’s something else) and he’s her primary care-giver, which doesn’t seem to bother him, he just gets on with it because he loves her and that’s how things are. It did make me wonder about all the adults in his life who apparently know about his home situation and have done nothing to help him, and his older brother doesn’t come out of this particularly well for the most part. But for Alex this is completely normal and as long as he has his rocket and his dog, Carl Sagan, he doesn’t much mind.There is a lot going on in this book, and although Alex is only eleven (with a responsibility age of thirteen) and this is clearly being marketed for middle grade readers, there were times when I wondered if it really is a children’s book. I liked seeing the adults through Alex’s eyes as he sometimes picks up on what’s going on, sometimes doesn’t, but there’s a lot going on that a younger reader wouldn’t necessarily notice – or even care about – and I’m not sure I would have found this that interesting when I was younger. The beginning is great, with Alex so excited about his rocket, but after that the story becomes a deeper quest about family and love and I don’t know that there’s enough going on to keep younger readers as engaged. I would have picked this up because of the space connection – and probably put it down again when there weren’t enough rockets.Plus, Alex is really lucky throughout in the people he meets. Yes, he’s a great character, who makes friends easily, but everything could so easily have gone wrong in so many ways. As a child, the main message I probably would have picked up is that travelling alone across country is fine; climbing ladders is not. As an adult I know this book is about so much more, and I can appreciate Alex’s journey as the multifaceted discovery that it is – mostly for the adults around him, rather than Alex himself.So while I really enjoyed this and found it a charming, engaging read that made me fall completely in love with Alex, I’m less certain that young readers will enjoy it as much. It feels more like a halcyon, nostalgic tale for older readers than a voyage of discovery for children. It’s well written, but it will take a certain type of young reader to get the most out of it.

When I was sent this book, I didn't really know what to expect because of it being categorised as a middle-grade novel. I haven't actually read that much middle-grade (maybe 2 or 3), so I never know what I'm going to get. See You in the Cosmos in Jack Cheng's debut middle-grade book and whenI heard it was about space, I couldn't wait to start reading as - when I was younger - I used to be obsessed with all things to do with the universe!All eleven-year old Alex wants is to launch his iPod into space. With a series of audio recordings, he will show other lifeforms out in the cosmos what life on Earth, his Earth, is really like. But for a boy with a long-dead dad, a troubled mum, and a mostly-not-around brother, Alex struggles with the big questions. But for a boy with a long-dead dad, a troubled mum, and a mostly-not-around brother, Alex struggles with the big questions.Where do I come from? Who's out there? And, above all, How can I be brave?Determined to find the answers, Alex sets out on a remarkable road trip that will turn his whole world upside down . . .When I looked at the first page of this book, I noticed how different the format was; the chapters were the day-to-day recordings that our main character - Alex - does whilst he is going on his epic journey. And that's exactly what this book is: an epic journey. He travels from state to state, meeting new friends and finding things out about himself that he never knew.I loved the character of Alex, he felt so raw and vulnerable because of his age, yet he had this maturity that surrounded him and a sense of humour that sometimes made me cry with laughter. Sometimes it wasn't even his sense of humour that made me laugh, it was his naivety, the fact that he was eleven and he wasn't aware of certain things. Talking about characters, there wasn't one character in this book that I didn't like. At first, I really didn't like Ronnie but as the book progressed, he underwent some fantastic character development and I loved him by the end of the book. Terra was also just fantastic. I cannot fault her one bit. All she wants to do is help out and look after everyone, she wants to love and nuture every one around her and the way that she looks after Alex is so incredibly heart-warming."Sometimes the clouds inside my head get big and gray and swwirly and then I hurrican through my eyes."- Jack Cheng, See You in the CosmosEven though this is a middle-grade novel, the book - very subtly - has an underlying young adult theme of mental illness, loss and finding yourself among all of the haziness of life. I felt like Cheng wrote the voice of an eleven-year-old perfectly as not once, did I feel like the character was older (or younger) than he actually was. I love how he was always being kept in the dark because of his age, but he felt like he was responsible enough to be told everything. It's the exact feeling that eleven-year-olds feel in reality as well.Towards the end of the book, we are slowly given the answers to the questions that Alex has been asking himself from the very beginning and the ending is just perfection. I cannot fault it at all.This is a fabulous book that I urge you to read as it will not disappoint. There is brilliant writing, awesome characters and a fascinating plot that will have you keep turning the pages until you finish the book and you realise that you've been there for five hours reading and it's 3am. This is a definite binge-read.Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review