Download high-resolution image
Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio pause button
0:00
0:00

The True Meaning of Smekday

Author Adam Rex
Read by Bahni Turpin
Listen to a clip from the audiobook
audio pause button
0:00
0:00
It all starts with a school essay.
 
Twelve-year-old Gratuity “Tip” Tucci is assigned to write five pages on “The True Meaning of Smekday” for the National Time Capsule contest, and she’s not sure where to begin: when her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended to Earth, and aliens—called the Boov—abducted her mother?
Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it “Smekland” (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod?
            Gratuity’s story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo, a futile journey south to find Gratuity’s mother at the Happy Mouse Kingdom, a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious, and an outrageous plan to save Earth from yet another alien invasion.
Adam Rex grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, the middle of three children. He discovered a talent for drawing as a child and pursued this interest through college. He got a BFA from the University of Arizona, where he met his physicist wife, Marie. Adam and Marie live in Tucson, where Adam draws, paints, writes, spends too much time on the Internet, and listens to public radio. His first novel, The True Meaning of Smekday, was the 2011 Odyssey Award Winner. View titles by Adam Rex
  • WINNER
    AudioFile Earphones Award
  • WINNER | 2011
    Odyssey Award
  • WINNER | 2010
    AudioFile Best Audiobook
  • SELECTION | 2011
    ALSC Notable Children's Recordings
  • SELECTION | 2011
    YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
  • SELECTION | 2010
    Booklist Editors' Choice: Audiobooks - Young Listeners

About

It all starts with a school essay.
 
Twelve-year-old Gratuity “Tip” Tucci is assigned to write five pages on “The True Meaning of Smekday” for the National Time Capsule contest, and she’s not sure where to begin: when her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended to Earth, and aliens—called the Boov—abducted her mother?
Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it “Smekland” (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod?
            Gratuity’s story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo, a futile journey south to find Gratuity’s mother at the Happy Mouse Kingdom, a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious, and an outrageous plan to save Earth from yet another alien invasion.

Author

Adam Rex grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, the middle of three children. He discovered a talent for drawing as a child and pursued this interest through college. He got a BFA from the University of Arizona, where he met his physicist wife, Marie. Adam and Marie live in Tucson, where Adam draws, paints, writes, spends too much time on the Internet, and listens to public radio. His first novel, The True Meaning of Smekday, was the 2011 Odyssey Award Winner. View titles by Adam Rex

Awards

  • WINNER
    AudioFile Earphones Award
  • WINNER | 2011
    Odyssey Award
  • WINNER | 2010
    AudioFile Best Audiobook
  • SELECTION | 2011
    ALSC Notable Children's Recordings
  • SELECTION | 2011
    YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
  • SELECTION | 2010
    Booklist Editors' Choice: Audiobooks - Young Listeners

Books for Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Every May we celebrate the rich history and culture of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Browse a curated selection of fiction and nonfiction books by AANHPI creators that we think your students will love. Find our collection of titles here: Elementary School

Read more

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017)   It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.

Read more

PRH Education Classroom Libraries

“Books are a students’ passport to entering and actively participating in a global society with the empathy, compassion, and knowledge it takes to become the problem solvers the world needs.” –Laura Robb   Research shows that reading and literacy directly impacts students’ academic success and personal growth. To help promote the importance of daily independent

Read more