To most people, Deborah Jones looks like a regular sixth-grader. She hates her math teacher, loves snowboarding, and has a secret crush on her best friend Willy, one of the cutest boys in school. There's just one tiny difference – "Deborah" is actually Dbkrrrsh, a flesh-eating space alien who, along with her parents, needs to kill and devour a human being once a year to survive.
For years, Deborah has managed to keep this part of her life a secret, even though the tentacles under her human disguise do pop out when she gets excited.
More Alien Sightings
But this year, things are different. Warriors from Deborah's planet are preparing for a series of alien invasions that will turn Earth into a gigantic buffet. Her parents are insisting that Deborah eat Willy to impress their relatives. And oh yeah – Deborah's grandmother is coming to visit, and if Deborah doesn't learn how to pronounce her name (which sounds suspiciously like "Pig's Butt") there's a good chance Grandma will have Deborah executed.
Will Earth become the next intergalactic McDonalds? Will Willy be the first item on the menu? And will Deborah survive math class – or just eat her teacher out of frustration?
A Sympathetic Space Alien
Born out of the short story “Deborah’s Choice,” which Alethea Eason wrote for Bruce Coville’s anthology Alien Visitors, Eason's first science fiction book provides a hilarious look at pre-teen life through the eyes of the ultimate outsider. Even though Deborah is a space alien, she was raised on Earth all her life, making her a girl caught (quite literally) between two worlds.
While most people might think it would be hard relating to a flesh-eating space alien, Eason pulls it off by linking Deborah’s problems to themes associated with growing up. Although Deborah loves her parents, she also wants to assimilate into mainstream human culture and eat hamburgers instead of people. Moreover, even space aliens go through their own gross version of puberty, and Eason’s descriptions of Deborah’s attempts to hide the changes her body is going through will resonate with many readers.
Reminiscent of Great Sci Fi Videos and Classic Horror Films
Having spent over twenty years as a teacher, Alethea Eason is well aware of what kids like to read. In fact, according to her website, some of the ideas that went into the final draft of Hungry were provided by her students.
Parents and teachers should know that while the subject matter of Hungry might seem gross and unsettling, the mix of B-movie horror and teenage angst provides a winning combination that will keep kids turning pages. Fans of this book should be on the lookout for Eason’s upcoming sequel Starved, which covers Deborah’s adventures with later alien invasions.
Eason, Alethea. Hungry. NY: Eos/HarperCollins, 2007. ISBN 978-0-06-082554-6.
Learn how Alethea wrote Hungry at: An Interview with SF Writer Alethea Eason
And get writing tips from Alethea at: Children's Author Shares Her Writing Process
Like young adult science fiction? Read a review of The Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2
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