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Summary
Summary
It was a stupid, insane, suicidal idea. This makes it hard to explain why Jim decided to help. Charlie was his best friend and he missed him. He couldn't think of anything better to do. They were really stupid reasons which were never going to impress the police, the headmistress or his parents.
Author Notes
Author and screenwriter Mark Haddon was born in Northampton, U.K. in 1962. He received a B.A. in English from Merton College and a MSc in English Literature from Edinburgh University. Since 1996, he has worked on numerous television projects. He has won two BAFTAs and The Royal Television Society Best Children's Drama for Microsoap, which he created and wrote 12 out of 25 episodes. He also wrote the screenplay for the BBC television adaption of Fungus the Bogeyman.
He has written fifteen children's books including the Agent Z series. In 1994, he was shortlisted for the Smarties Prize for The Real Porky Philips. He won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which provides a realistic insight into what it is like to have autism. He currently lives in Oxford with his family. He was runner-up for the BBC National Short Story Award with his title 'Bunny'.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Two British lads find themselves pursued by aliens with deadly powers, beamed to distant Planet Plonk, and forced to defend Earth itself from-depending on the invaders' mood-either invasion or destruction. A hilarious escapade, with some decidedly unfriendly nonhuman visitors. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) has reworked his out-of-print 1992 novel Gridzbi Spudvetch! into a delightful crowd pleaser. Jimbo lives in a small flat with his hardworking mother, unemployed father, and disdainful older sister, Becky, who spends her time with a loser of a biker boyfriend. But Jimbo's life takes a turn away from the dull when he and his adventurous friend Charlie plant walkie-talkies in the staff lounge at school. They overhear the teachers using an unintelligible language, entangling them in a farfetched and otherworldly mystery ("There was an adventure on its way, a nuclear-powered, one-hundred-ton adventure with reclining seats and a snack trolley"). Charlie is apparently abducted and Jimbo finds an unusually courageous ally in Becky, leading to a cross-country motorbike chase, the cracking of an alien code, intergalactic travel via a "Weff-Beam," and a trip to Plonk, a planet both familiar and strange. Jimbo and Charlie are excellent foils for each other, and Haddon's madcap escapade is fast-paced, pitch perfect, and utterly unbelievable-yet not a word will be doubted. Ages 10-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Jim and Charlie, in the midst of a middle-school prank, unwittingly discover that two of their teachers are evil aliens, part of a larger conspiracy. When Charlie disappears, what can Jim do but enlist his sister and set off in pursuit? What follows is a madcap action romp that includes a motorcycle chase, rock climbing in the wilds of Scotland, and finally a change of scene to outer space of the Douglas Adams variety, featuring the planet Plonk and characters like "Britney" the giant spider. "You come from Earth...I hear it is most delicious. Tell me about bagpipes. Tell me about Buckingham Palace and Elvis Presley. Tell me about cross-Channel ferries and ABBA, who are a Swedish pop band that shake my booty." Through derring-do, cliffhangers, and wisecracks, the narrative manages to be both a send-up and a celebration of classic sci-fi with its gadgets, invented language, and innocence. "Flipping heck!" our heroes exclaim, and then attack the bad guys with hairspray. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In the wake of his Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003), Haddon offers a slighter but nonetheless hilarious update of a tale originally published in 1993 as Gridzbi Spudvetch! Overhearing two seemingly dorky teachers speaking in an unknown tongue, Jimbo and Charlie start poking aroundand find themselves in deeper dutch than they could have imagined. It seems that Earth is being checked out by murderous space aliens as a candidate for invasion or maybe total destruction, depending on their mood. Threats from a laser-fingered stranger and Charlie's sudden disappearance cast Jimbo and his ill-tempered but resourceful goth big sister Becky into a mad dash to the Isle of Skye, where the aliens have secreted their one "Weff-Beam" station. Jimbo finds himself beamed to Planet Plonk, where he finds Charlieand a colony of kidnapped sci-fi fans too dazzled at being on another planet to want to escape. Jimbo's self-effacing narration accommodates both the looniness and the earth-bound emotional ups and downs of adolescents. In all, a well-knit tale that hurtles down a logical path to a satisfying conclusion....well worth a second chance. (Science fiction. 10-12) ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Originally released (and mostly ignored) in 1992 under the title Gridzbi Spudvetch!, Haddon (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, 2003) was inspired by its cult status to extensively rehaul and update the text. Seen with fresh eyes, the result is a minor but nevertheless enjoyable light sci-fi romp. Wanting to get the drop on their teachers, middle-grader Jim and his buddy Charlie hide a walkie-talkie in the teacher's lounge. What they hear, though, is more than a bit confusing: Zorner ment. Cruss mo plug and all other manners of verbal nonsense. Further investigation reveals two of the teachers to be aliens, and after Charlie is abducted, it's up to Jim and his death-metal obsessed teen sister to save the day. It's exactly the kind of caper you imagine when you're a kid, filled with adult conspiracies, secret codes, and wisecrack-filled escapades. Sure, it gets a little tiring during its zany spaceship finale, but it's hard to find much fault in a climax featuring a giant, disco-obsessed alien spider named Britney.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist