I COME FROM ANOTHER GALAXY

Spacesuit-clad James touches down from an intergalactic commute just in time for the first day of school.

Unbound by the laws of gravity, the young earthling, who presents East Asian, nervously navigates life on a new planet, logging questions along the way in a letter to home. What’s the deal with the bathroom? Is James’ name really so hard for extraterrestrials to pronounce? And just what are the rules to slime-ball? With help from a crew of otherworldly classmates, James learns to confront the self-doubt that sometimes accompanies difference, affirming in equal measure the importance of vulnerability and the value of diversity. Adult readers may understand that the story’s climactic declaration—“It turns out I am the alien here”—carries particular weight given current conversations around immigration and xenophobia. Deeply approachable in tone, the text’s epistolary style and first-person perspective offer emotional insights into the experience of relocation. Throughout, James can be seen writing and drawing in a book; this metanarrative structure places the story we’re reading at the center of James’ journey, while visible pencil strokes suggest that the child is the story’s illustrator, too. Charming visual details such as interstellar traffic signage add narrative depth to the appealingly spare illustrations, while the endpapers, which feature whimsical doodles on notebook paper, complement similarly styled elements throughout. That the main character shares a name with the author/illustrator only serves to underscore the tale’s self-referential, personal nature.

A comforting dispatch about interplanetary acceptance.