Life Hacks for a Little Alien

LoveReading Says

The product of an anxious mother and a risk aware father Little Alien has a unique voice, a matter-of-fact way of looking at the world and trying to comprehend everything within it.

A loner at school, she struggles to find her place and at four and a half years old is kicked out of school for trying to throw the class fish in the bin. On another occasion someone tells her to cut up the bibles. So she does. 

Struggling with the complications of language, emotional comprehension, social niceties, acceptable behaviour, her swooshy stomach, bright lights, her tired mind, she longs for the hour when it’s acceptable to fall asleep. 

Until Bobby. Who sticks up for her. Is this what friendship is?

Flitting between home schooling and mainstream education, Little Alien feels continually disconnected, feels that her language isn't her language. Confused when other people say things and she doesn’t know what they mean, when people do things and she doesn’t know what they mean.

This sparkling and stirring novel is an incredibly special debut. It's a book for those with a love of words. An appreciation of language. Of literary prowess. It's about one little girl’s obsession with a mysterious manuscript, her literary pursuit, her alien endeavour. How she finds her way in the world through her love of language. How she finally feels seen.

An awkward soul whose thirst for knowledge and love of her library enables her to overcome the distinct possibility that the literature of her people will elude her forever. Little Alien is a neurodivergent Matilda for a new generation, and I want to be on her planet.

Deborah Maclaren

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