Star Trek: Mission to Horatius by Mark Reynolds

I have added this brand new book to the little library especially for one boy in my class who is a hardcore Trek fan. Mission to Horatius by  Mark Reynolds is the title of a 1968 novel especially for children based on the television series. It was actually the first novel to be based on the Start Trek franchise  and was done  whilst the series was still being made. This hardback edition was published in 1999 by Pocket Books. Anyway, in this book the USS Enterprise is on its way to Star Base 12 for well-deserved shore leave, supplies and repairs, as food is running low and also the engines need attention. However, en route, a distress signal diverts the Enterprise to the outer edge of  the known solar system. The mental health of  the crew is not the best according to Dr McCoy. They are restless and irritable and he is concerned that they could be prone to cafard, a type of space madness. When they arrive at the NGC 400 solar system, the Enterprise crew come across three planets inhabited by different human settlers who had been disgruntled with the social norms of Earth. One planet has reverted to a Stone Age state, another has a mid-20th Century technology while the third has the most advanced technology and weaponry, and is ready for space travel. Kirk and his crew are trying to figure out who sent a distress signal and the nature of the emergency. To complicate things, they run into  a warrior society, where drugs are used  by a small elite to control the general population.

My Teacher is an Alien by Bruce Coville

My Teacher is an Alien is one of a four-book science fiction series by Bruce Coville. I found this delightful little read in an Ulverstone second hand bookshop during my reminiscent visit back to my hometown after nearly thirty year absence. It will look great on my desk on the first day of third term. It is essentially about three children: Peter Thompson who is somewhat of a nerdy character, Susan Simmons, who is a bit of a drama queen, and bully boy Duncan Douglas. Susan is not happy to arrive back at school after the spring holidays to discover that her favourite teacher, Ms Schwartz, is mysteriously absent and  has been replaced by Mr Smith to whom she takes an instant dislike. After finishing a maths test early Susan decides to write a nasty note about Mr Smith to her friend Stacy, but unfortunately Mr Smith collects it when he is gathering up the tests. Anxious to retrieve the note before he reads it, Susan follows him to his house and that's when she discovers that he is not all is cracked up to be, and could in fact be planning a world invasion. This is also the stage in which I discover the description of the alien in the book does not match the cover on this Lion's edition:

"His enormous orange eyes slanted up and away from his nose like a pair of butterfly wings. A series of muscular looking ridges stretched from his eyes down to his lipless mouth...He smiled at himself in the mirror showing two rows of rounded purplish teeth." 

This cover is probably closer to the mark:

or this French edition which was on track with the eyes:

Anyway, it's still all good fun and a great read. To learn more about the author visit this site; it's worth a look:

http://www.brucecoville.com/

Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left by Robin Klein

Another good read from Australian author Robin Klein. If you like Science Fiction you might like this book. It is all about a a family who have been exiled from planet Zyrgon after Father deviously won the government lottery 27 times in a row. They come to live on Earth and are finding the adaption difficult despite their extraterrestrial powers. The customs on Earth cause all sorts of problems for them, especially Father's compulsive gambling habits, Qwrk's amazing intellectualism at age five, and Dovis' absentminded levitation of things. Then, to top it off, Aunt Hecla arrives unexpectedly with her home-made space raft and things get even trickier. The book was turned into a television series with 28 episodes. They were all filmed in Melbourne. Below you can view part one of the series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks0BhuuY7KM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu7dlE9IqaY