Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com
If you had one minute of sound and one picture to describe the very best thing about being a human on Earth, what would you do? That's Theo's assignment, and he has two weeks to figure it out.
It's 1977 and the Voyager Probes are due to launch soon. They will be the most extensive space exploration mission yet. Aboard one of the probes is a golden record, full of sounds from earth, that will be broadcast into space, intended as a greeting toward alien life.
At first Theo thinks the assignment will be simple. The more he thinks about it, the harder it becomes. He has some great ideas, but nothing seems quite good enough. How do you describe the very best thing about humans in one minute? Should it be something we've created? Should it avoid mention of anything bad? Who are we?
One question leads to the next, and the biggest ones start to come from outside of school. Who is Theo's father, really? What happened to him in Vietnam? Why can't they talk about him? Does keeping a secret hurt someone or protect them?
This is a story about much more than just space exploration, although I did learn quite a bit more about that than I ever did in a class. This is a story about exploring you family and yourself. It's about asking hard questions, even when you're not sure you want to know the answer. It's also about forgiveness and strength and understanding. All of these are ideas that transcend time, making GREETINGS FROM PLANET EARTH a great book to have now or ten years from now, and just as good for adults as it is for kids.
If you had one minute of sound and one picture to describe the very best thing about being a human on Earth, what would you do? That's Theo's assignment, and he has two weeks to figure it out.
It's 1977 and the Voyager Probes are due to launch soon. They will be the most extensive space exploration mission yet. Aboard one of the probes is a golden record, full of sounds from earth, that will be broadcast into space, intended as a greeting toward alien life.
At first Theo thinks the assignment will be simple. The more he thinks about it, the harder it becomes. He has some great ideas, but nothing seems quite good enough. How do you describe the very best thing about humans in one minute? Should it be something we've created? Should it avoid mention of anything bad? Who are we?
One question leads to the next, and the biggest ones start to come from outside of school. Who is Theo's father, really? What happened to him in Vietnam? Why can't they talk about him? Does keeping a secret hurt someone or protect them?
This is a story about much more than just space exploration, although I did learn quite a bit more about that than I ever did in a class. This is a story about exploring you family and yourself. It's about asking hard questions, even when you're not sure you want to know the answer. It's also about forgiveness and strength and understanding. All of these are ideas that transcend time, making GREETINGS FROM PLANET EARTH a great book to have now or ten years from now, and just as good for adults as it is for kids.
