Crash!

Zeke, his parents, and Zeus (their spaceship commander cat) are from Planet Z, but their spaceship has just crashed on Earth. The family moves into an empty house, and Zeus tells Zeke he must go to school and act like a normal earthling child. Meanwhile, the junk man has taken their spaceship, and the family must find a way to buy it back. This is the first book of the Kid from Planet Z series for young readers, and Krulik gives her characters exaggerated outer-space characteristics, despite their efforts to adapt to life on Earth. Children will chuckle their way through this easy chapter book and delight in Thomas' humorous, blue-toned illustrations. It looks like Zeke and his family will be on Earth for a while, so expect more adventures to come.--Petty, J. B. Copyright 2017 Booklist

It's tough to be the new kid in school; when the school is on the strange planet your family's spaceship just crashed on, the challenges only mount.Fortunately for Zeke and his kind but clueless parents from Planet Z, their ship's feline commander, Zeus, a graduate of Intergalactic College, has studied Earth. Establishing them in a vacant house, he sets the family straight on some (though not all) Earth basics: there's only one sun and one moon; if identified as aliens, they could end up in a zoo, Zeus warns, so they must act like earthlings until they can repair the ship. Zeke's dismayed when told he has to go to school. He won't know anyone! "I will be the new zeebop," he protests. Rejecting Zeke's suggestion that he go instead, Zeus smugly points out that Earth cats don't go to school. Luckily, Zeke's classmates prove to be a friendly bunch, sympathetic when he reacts with horror to the cafeteria's hot dogs and impressed when he drinks his milk through a straw inserted in his ear. But before it can be repaired, the space ship's hauled off as junk, and the Zanders must find a way to buy it back. While Zeke's extraterrestrial family can pass (provided they retract their antennae) for dark-skinned humans, Zeus, a tabby, learns the hard way that passing as an Earth cat has a downside. Krulik writes with a soft touch, sparing use of Planet Z vocabulary and the inevitable misapprehensions drawn by the literal-minded Zanders offering plenty of laughs as well as thought-provoking meditations on just how it might feel to be an alien. With its promising high concept and laced with plenty of wry humor, this series opener has broad appeala good choice for reluctant readers. (Science fiction. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Chapter 1: Crash!   "Ow! That hurt!" Zeke Zander rubbed his head. He straightened his bent antenna.   "Is everyone okay?" Zeke's mom asked.   "I think so," Zeke's dad said. "That was a hard landing."   "What happened?" Zeke asked.   "We lost power," Zeus, the spaceship commander, explained. "We got pulled through space Then we crashed here."   "Where's here?" Zeke asked.   Zeus scratched behind his ear with his sharp claws. "I'm not sure," he purred. "But it's not Planet Z."   "Do you think we can breathe out there?" Zeke's dad wondered.   "Only one way to find out," Zeus said. "You go out and try."   "Why m . . . m . . . me?." Zeke's dad asked the cat. "You're the leader."   "I can't go out there," Zeus said. "What if I get hurt? I'm the smart one. We need me."   Zeke frowned. There was no arguing with Zeus when he said things like that. His dad was going to have to be the one to go.   Zeke's dad forced the door of the spaceship open.   Zeke ran his fingers nervously up and down his antenna. He was worried.   "It's fine," Zeke's dad called back finally. "I can breathe."   Phew! That meant this planet had oxygen in its air. Just like on Planet Z.   Slowly the rest of the Zander family crawled out of the ship.   Zeke looked down. Something furry and green was growing there. Strange.   Zeke looked up. The sky was lit by a bright full moon. Even stranger.   "What kind of planet has only one moon?" Zeke asked. "Where are the other five?"   Zeus licked his paws. "Earth has only one moon." He looked around. "Yep.   This looks like the pictures I studied in college. We have landed on Earth."   Zeus was the only Zander who had gone to Intergalactic College. That was why he was in charge.   Just then something cold and wet began to fall.   "What is this?" Zeke's mother asked. She used her arms to shield her head.   Zeus sniffed at the cold wet stuff.   "It's called water," Zeus said. He shook his fur. III don't like it."   "Let's get back in the spaceship," Zeke's dad said.   Zeus shook his head. "We don't know how badly the ship was damaged when we crashed. It could blow up at any minute. We are safer out here for now."   The water was coming down harder. It felt slippery on Zeke's skin.   "What's that?" Zeke's dad asked. He pointed to a big wooden thing nearby.   "An Earth house," Zeus purred.   A house? Zeke couldn't believe it. It didn't look anything like any house he had ever seen on Planet Z.   That house wasn't protected by a giant glass meteor shield. What would happen if a space rock hit it?   And that house didn't have a floating garage above its roof, either. Zeke wondered where earthlings parked their spaceships.   "That house could be a good place to stay while we are here," Zeus suggested.   "Won't the earthlings in there mind?" Zeke's mother asked. "Are earthlings good sharers?"   "Not the best," Zeus told her. "But the house looks empty."   "How can you tell?" Zeke's dad   "That FOR RENT sign," Zeus said, pointing with his paw. "The owners are looking for someone else to move in."   "Someone like us," Zeke's mom said.   "Exactly;" Zeus answered.   "How long do we have to live in that thing?" Zeke asked.   "Until the spaceship is fixed," Zeus told him.   Zeke's mom smiled. "Don't worry;" she said. "It will feel like home in no time."   Zeke scratched the spot where the furry green stuff touched his leg.   He wiped cold wet stuff from his nose.   He looked up at the one moon in the sky.   Feel like home? Zeke didn't think so. Excerpted from Crash! #1 by Nancy Krulik All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.