MMGM- We're Not From Here

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday at Always in the Middle and #IMWAYR day at Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers. It's also Nonfiction Monday.

Rodkey, Geoff . We're Not from Here 
March 5th 2019 by Crown Books for Young Readers
E ARC from Edelweiss Plus

Lan, Ila and their family live on Mars in a colony of under 3,000 people who escaped Earth after it was made uninhabitable. However, the supplies are dwindling quickly, and life there is unsustainable. There is the possibility of terraforming another planet, but there's no time. Luckily, the group receives an invitation from the residents of Choom, which is conducive to human life. Only about half the residents want to go (the other half return to Earth), so they take off for Choom. It takes 20 years in suspended animation, and when the ship arrives, there is trouble. There has been a change in administration, and the current rulers don't want humans, as they are considered too violent. The ship is attacked by angry mobs of Zhuri (who look like large mosquitoes), but eventually, the government allows one reproductive unit-- Lan's family-- for a trial period. Leeni, of the Immigration Division, gets the family settled into a heavily protected home, enrolls the children in school, and gets the parents jobs. Of course, since humans are deemed violent and not intelligent, the parents end up working at the morgue and in garbage collection, where things get off to a rocky start. Luckily, translating computers make communicating easier, although the minority Krik accent is not translated. School is not much better, although Lan's teacher, Yurinuri, is very kind. The classmates are very fearful, which Lan can understand because the Zhuri emit a smell like sour milk when they are afraid. This is considered very rude; Zhuri have a partial hive mind and "everyone agrees" that all emotions are bad and rude. Lan makes a friend in Morf, who is the only Ororo (a people who look like giant marshmallows, are 7,000 times smarter than humans, and are keen to make a buck!) student in the school. Marf adjusts the translator to understand Krik and invites Lan's family for dinner, where the parents produce a salve to help the father's wounds from being attacked by venom spewing Zhuri at work and send them home with food. The government starts sending propaganda to the news to persuade the population that "everyone agrees" that humans should not stay. Ila becomes very depressed, since she had a career as a singer and actress on Earth. Lan realizes that making the Zhuri laugh might be the only way to turn the tide, but when he sees the effect of his sister's music on the group, he knows that might help as well. After some small experiments at school, things become dire, and Marf helps Lan overthrow the government peacefully so that the rest of the humans can be settled on Choom.
Strengths: As in Tom O'Donnell's Space Rocks, humans are the aliens here, and this is used to HUGE advantage! The destruction of Earth is set up in a believable way, the Mars colony is quickly dispatched, and the description of Choom is perfect for setting up this allegorical tale of  immigration. It's perfect that most of the story centers around Lan (whose gender is never mentioned-- do you know how hard that must have been to write?) and the experiences at school, since that is where young readers' concerns would be. The use of language was particularly effective and made it sound like actual translation from Zhuri-- body garbage, midday nutrition, human animals-- it's hard to describe but well done. Normally, odd language irritates me, but this was spot on. The difficulties in the changes in government, plus the reason for the changes, was thought provoking. Lan and Marf were great characters, and it was great to see how people with completely different backgrounds can bond, even if it's over slapstick comedy.
Weaknesses: From an adult perspective, this is pretty heavy handed in its message, BUT it is also plenty goofy. Kids will enjoy the comedy and friendship, but also not be able to miss the message about being welcoming to people who are different from you.
What I really think: I am very impressed. I will definitely recommend this to 6th and 7th grade teachers for use as a class novel. It could start some great discussions!