An exciting new voice is launched onto the children’s fiction scene this month in the form of Baby Aliens Got My Teacher! by Pamela Butchart. Told from the point of view of Izzy, it’s the snort-in-your-apple-juice-funny story of four primary school friends who become convinced that their teacher has been turned into an alien, and wants to change THEM into aliens too! Grabbing the wrong end of several sticks and with their imaginations turned fully on overdrive, the friends set about saving the school from a full-blown alien invasion. A good deal of hiding in toilets and screaming ensues but, happily, the friends realise their misunderstanding before things spiral completely out of control and ‘normality’ is ultimately restored to the school. Wittily illustrated throughout by Thomas Flintham, this is a warm-hearted and thoroughly engaging story that’s just perfect for children who are building their reading confidence.
The Sunday Times has made Baby Aliens this week’s children’s book of the week, and keep an eye out too for GIRL TALK magazine this month: Pamela will be the issue’s star author and there will be a review of the book inside. And Izzy and her friends are back in July with the publication of The Spy Who Loved School Dinners, the hilarious sequel to Baby Aliens – another equally silly tale of mild paranoia and loopy mix-ups.
Baby Aliens Got My Teacher! strikes a chord with both children and parents because it so brilliantly captures the expressions of primary school children, and the craziness that can sometimes grip their lives. In celebration of the book’s publication, we thought it might be fun to share recent ‘Baby Alien’ moments from our own children’s lives. Mine comes from my eight-year old who, when asked what happened at school that day, instead of the customary “Nothing”, cheerily replied:
“We were just sitting in a circle on the carpet, taking it in turns to say what we had done in the holidays, when Josh O was sick RIGHT next to me! And, guess what?! His sick had BANANAS in it! Yes, really! And then Kate said that if we are ever sick, we can be sick in the bin, OR the recycling bin, OR in the corridor outside, but NEVER, EVER on the carpet!”
Kirsty’s story comes from her (clearly bonkers) decision to accompany her son’s class on a Year 4 school trip. She describes the health and safety nightmare of watching the entire year descend the spiral stairs at Tufnell Park tube station, forcing innocent Tube users to squash themselves against the wall or run for their lives. Then came the moment that a train went past at the bottom, sending a vast gust of cold air up the stairwell and causing sixty children, caught in the updraught, their hair billowing en masse, to start screaming and flapping their packed lunch in uncontrolled hysteria. Ear-bleedingly horrible!
We hope you enjoy Baby Aliens Got My Teacher! and would love to hear your ‘Baby Alien’ anecdotes – so please feel free to share them with us!
Baby Aliens Got My Teacher! is available to buy in bookshops and online now – and you can read the first chapter for free below.
