Alien in My Pocket #8: Space Invaders
By Nate Ball and Macky Pamintuan
4/5
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About this ebook
It’s the thrilling conclusion to the Alien in My Pocket series! With a page-turning plot, plenty of fun science facts, illustrations throughout, and a do-it-yourself, hands-on experiment at the end, this is an appealing chapter book series for young readers. And it’s all from the amazing brain of MIT graduate Nate Ball, host of PBS’s Emmy Award–winning Design Squad series.
Zack has grown fond of his troublesome buddy, Amp, since the four-inch-tall alien crash-landed his spaceship through Zack’s bedroom window. They’ve gotten into more than their fair share of trouble together, but they’ve always invented a way out of it. Until a fleet of ships from Amp’s home planet filled the sky and started firing its weapons. Zack and Amp have to do the thing most kids only dare imagine—save the world!
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts
Nate Ball
Nate Ball is the host of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning PBS reality shows Design Squad and Design Squad Nation. An MIT graduate with a master’s in mechanical engineering, Nate is also the cofounder of Atlas Devices, a two-time All-American pole-vaulter, and a competitive beatboxer. He lives with his wife in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Titles in the series (8)
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Book preview
Alien in My Pocket #8 - Nate Ball
CHAPTER 01: THE MESS I MADE
CHAPTER 02: FACE-PLANT
CHAPTER 03: MR. LARRY
CHAPTER 04: SPACE AND SWISS CHEESE
CHAPTER 05: END OF THE LINE
CHAPTER 06: SHOWDOWN
CHAPTER 07: PUNCH IT
CHAPTER 08: AND SO IT BEGAN
CHAPTER 09: THE BIG KALOOFA
CHAPTER 10: TALKING TOUGH
CHAPTER 11: PEACE OFFERING
CHAPTER 12: SHOPPING SPREE
CHAPTER 13: BREAKFAST MEETING
CHAPTER 14: HERO’S GOOD-BYE
TRY IT YOURSELF: STOMP ROCKET
BONUS EXPERIMENT FROMALIEN IN MY POCKET #1: BLAST OFF!
DEDICATION AND THANKS
BACK AD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CREDITS
COPYRIGHT
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
The Mess I Made
It’s hard to be a kid these days.
Think about it.
You’ve got chores, tons of homework, and little brothers. Moms and dads are always bossing you around and saying they know best. Coaches make sour faces every time you take batting practice. And teachers think learning is the most exciting thing ever invented.
It can all be a bit much for a fourth grader to handle without going nuts.
Now add to all that the responsibility of ensuring the survival of the human race, and you get a glimpse into my life.
I’ve pretty much gone nutty.
And it’s easy to pinpoint exactly when it all went wrong: the day Amp arrived.
Amp is the avocado-size alien who burst into my life when he flew through my window screen. His football-size spaceship dented my bedroom wall and crash-landed on my bed.
Connecting the dots from that first, shocking night to the possible end of mankind wasn’t easy to do. But that didn’t mean it was any less true. Because that moment so many months ago really had led directly to this night. Earth—and the billions of people living on it—was in serious crisis, even if they didn’t know it yet.
Which was, more or less, what I was thinking about as I flew through the cool night in my underwear. I was clinging to Amp’s spaceship for dear life as an army of soldiers chased me from below and an alien force poised to invade Earth floated above me in the starry sky.
As I said, it was an odd time for a kid whose biggest accomplishment previously had been making the travel baseball team as a catcher with a pretty decent throw to second base and a so-so batting average.
Despite all that, the world was counting on me.
Now if I could only find some pants.
Face-Plant
Amp landed near Olivia and her grandfather.
Or I should say, Amp dumped me off the top of his spaceship from about eight feet in the air, and I face-planted onto some sharp pine needles near Olivia and her grandfather. Then Amp landed safely, all comfy cozy inside his spaceship.
Olivia and her grandfather had been waiting for us to return to make our getaway, which I now realized would be harder than we’d expected. The dark woods around us were filled with the sound of men shouting orders. Beams of light flashed through the trees. An army helicopter with a superbright searchlight roared above us.
The soldiers in the fort from which we had just escaped were coming after us. They were determined not to let us get away easily.
Olivia emerged out of the darkness to help me up. Why . . . why are you wearing only your unmentionables? Wh-where are your pants?
she stammered. And your shoes and socks and shirt?
Kind of hard to explain,
I said, gasping and plucking off dried pine needles. I stumbled, trying to shake the dizziness. The woods spun around me. I put my hands on my knees and concentrated on not throwing up.
Olivia ran to the truck. Her grandfather was on one knee by Amp’s ship. It steamed visibly and had a slight golden glow to it. It looked more futuristic out here in the woods than it had under the wool blanket in my closet, which was where it had sat, unused, for weeks.
We’ve got to get out of here,
Olivia said, handing me her grandfather’s vest.
I zipped it up, but it was way too big. I felt like I was wearing a dress.
Step into these,
Olivia demanded, setting down huge, waterproof hunting boots.
I did as she said, and my toes searched the inside of the giant boots for warmth. I glanced down at myself and held my arms out. I look ridiculous!
She gave a small, nervous laugh. You look cute.
She punched me on the arm.
Oh, brother,
I said.
They’re coming,
Olivia’s