I Just Don't Know

This is a very funny, upbeat, and charming book. But,...

Our hero narrator, Mylo, is smart, good-natured, resourceful, kind, and appealing. He is the decent and likeable heart of the book. His pal, Dibs, is a little goofy around the edges, but still slyly sharp-witted, loyal, and dependable. After something crashes outside of Roswell it looks like we'll have a spaceship crash adventure, (with either real or imaginary Martians), and a few laughs at our heroes' expense. We get some nice 1947 period details and a good feeling for New Mexico around Roswell, or more like White Sands.

But, Mylo's brother Obie died the year before and Mylo's family is mired in deep and debilitating depression. O.K., that's something to deal with and it adds weight and a surprisingly different tone to what started out as a lighthearted junior cowboy adventure. Then, though, it turns out that Dibs is the malnourished and often beaten son of an alcoholic father. Is this a bridge too far? Well, that turns in part on how you feel about the resolution.

SPOILERS AHEAD. We get a lot of kid level talk about God. Does he like baseball and what team does he root for. We get a lot of kid level praying, where we worry about life after death and about when we'll start sprouting upper lip hair. That's charming, but meanwhile we have a grief stricken family and a physically abused kid. It's the forties, so for most of the book everyone just sighs and looks the other way, which may be true to the era but set my teeth on edge. At the end the family just sort of pulls itself together and turns a new leaf and emerges bright and shiny. The neighborhood goes out to have a chat with Dibs' Dad, (off stage), and somehow everything gets resolved and we're all happy. (Even in books like "Shiloh", about a beagle abused by an alcoholic owner, we get more depth and complexity.)

Melissa Savage has another book, "Lemons", that I adored. That featured a girl whose Mom had just died from cancer and whose father had abandoned her. She ends up shipped out to a relative and becomes friends with an OCD boy whose Dad is a Vietnam MIA. Tough stuff, but Savage took a stab at a fairly realistic, if sunny and upbeat, resolution. I couldn't help but think that Savage took the easy way out with "Martians...", (which, BTW, has a ripping E.T. action plot).

So, here, the resolution is pretty much unearned, the God angle sort of drifts in and out in a childish way, and we all end with a big group hug. Is that O.K.? Should younger readers get to read upbeat happy stuff, or if you put in depression and child abuse do you have to address it seriously? I really don't know, and maybe I'm over thinking this. At least everyone in this book is decent and honorable, and parents are loving, and every one ends being welcomed and cherished, and maybe that's enough.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this book by the cover which I thought was colorful and fun. The book had some really good points: friendship and grief. But, it took a long time to draw me in. I think kids with a short attention span might not stick it out.

I had mixed feelings when reading this book. The good side to the story is that it deals with some prominent issues about grief for a loved one, faith and God, how to cope with sadness, and overall sense of community life. On a side note, I also loved the whole Roswell theme to the story because it is one of my favorite topics to read. But on the other hand, the characters, especially Dibs felt too cartoonish and I could not take him seriously. The characters seemed very generic and cliched and I felt the story dragged on unnecessarily here and there. Overall, I liked reading this once, but not sure if I would pick it up to re-read.

Part friendship story, part adventure story, this book is based on the Roswell event in 1948 and is written with great voice and humor. There are laugh out loud moments mixed in with the true depth of emotion as Mylo tries to make sense of his world after the loss of his beloved brother. The boys’ friendship is a rock in their chaotic lives and their adventure gives them courage they thought they would never have. Great book for 4th grade and up.

A story that touched my heart. It is about friendship, love, loss, and trust. I love every inch of this book.

This story involves the historic Roswell crash that happened in 1947 and some young kids whose lives are changed by the events that occurred after the crash.
The main characters are Dibs (Dibson Tiberius Butte) and Mylo Affinito, two friends who witnessed the Roswell crash on July 4, 1947.
The two boys are obsessed with comics and talk about The Adventures of Superman radio show. Which was an actual show that did air from 1940-1951. So she did some homework on this era. Mylo had an older brother who died of some sickness (doesn't really elaborate to much on that). The characters and setting do work well but I feel the story may have had too many layers for a middle grade book.
It deals with death, conspiracy theories, friendship, and agnostic beliefs. A lot to push in one novel especially one aimed at kids that are probably only in 3rd-5th grade.
I think the story is done well, but I wish the characters were a little more lifelike. I felt like the didn't have enough personality to really leap off the page for me. I almost skipped to the end just to find out where the story was going instead of enjoying the characters and their interactions together.
The end is interesting especially some of the military things that happen. I just wish there was more to characters to really get immersed in the story. I didn't really witness much change or growth in Mylo who was main focus in novel.


Excerpt :"There has to be an explanation for it, " I whisper into the darkness. "Maybe an meteor or asteroid."
"Krypton burns like a green star in the endless heavens," Dibs says in an announcer voice just like the narrator from The Adventures of Superman program that we listen to on the radio in the evening after supper.





The novel might appeal to kids who like UFOs and particularly the Roswell incident. But I could not give it a recommendation due to not enjoying the story or characters.

I went into this book on the assumption that the Martians were going to be symbolic. There was definitely a message about the assumptions we make about each other but it was a rather blunt message. And a rather anti-government attitude. And a bit tacked on about environmentalism and anti-war sentiment. I liked the acknowledgement that most people aren't bad, just damaged or scared.

Since the death of his brother Obie life hasn't been the same for Mylo and his family. He has lost his faith and everything seems gray. He wishes he were a superhero and that he could make things the way they were before and help his friend Dibs as well.
When something mysterious lands in the desert near Roswell Mylo and his friends have to investigate and what they discover changes their lives forever.
Inside the capsule is a being which later follows Mylo home. He soon learns that she comes from Europa, a moon of Jupiter (not Mars) and that he brother has been taken to the nearby base.
Can Mylo and his friends be real life superheroes and rescue Moon Shadow's brother?
Fun blend of alien lore from the Roswell area mixed with friendship and action. This was a good story.

I had problems with this book.

I wanted to believe.

And I was supposed to believe that there was extraterrestrial life.

But, my gosh, it was like pulling teeth.

On one hand we had Mylo mourning his brother's death. Then we had his friends, hanging around with him, quoting comic books, and the token smart girl.

Once we finally established that there was indeed a spaceship and an alien, we had had to go back and forth, and argue, and discuss.

I thought, perhaps, martians might parallel his love for his dead older brother, and the story hinted at that, then turned, and left us in the desert.

Too much talking, too little action.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Mylo is living in New Mexico in the 1950s and is surprised one night when there are flashing lights followed by a tremendous crash. He and his best friend, Dibs, a beautiful girl named Gracie, and some other kids from school decide to go check out the crash site and find that there are extraterrestrials. One follows Mylo home and they have to figure out how to get her and her brother home. It's a really fun premise about what really happened in Roswell so many years ago as well as what creatures living on other planets might be like. There are also some social issues thrown in for good measure-Mylo has a brother who died and Dibs appears to be suffering from neglect at best and abuse at worst. I think the kids are going to like this one a lot.

E ARC from Edelweiss Plus



Mylo lives with his parents and baby sister near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. His best friend, Dibs, is obsessed with Martians and comics, especially Planet Comics. The two boys spend a lot of time together, since Dibs' mother left home and his father is not coping well. Mylo has lost his brother Obie and also has trouble coping with his grief. When there is a huge, sudden flash of light in the sky one night, Mylo is sure it is a Martian flying saucer landing, and with the help of his friends Gracie (on whom he has a crush) and Diego, he finds the crashed spaceship... and an alien. Of course, the army is ready to come and take away the wreckage for study, but Mylo manages to help the alien escape and hide her. His parents don't quite believe him, of course, and since the entire community is perturbed by the event and doesn't believe that it was really weather balloons, they think it's just his way of dealing with the things that have gone on in his life. Mylo and his friends know better, and do what they can to help, especially since the aliens manage to communicate with Mylo telepathically.

Strengths: As she did in Lemons, Savage does an excellent job of including details of life at this time, from overalls and hankies to Aqua Velva and church picnics. She also provides a good picture of the residents of a community, and shows how they work together in interesting ways, from Mylo's mother delivering bread to a neighbor to how Dibs' situation is finally resolved.

Weaknesses: The reason for Obie's death, and Mylo's grief about it (as well as the grief of a neighbor for the loss of his family), take up a lot of the story and slows it down. In 1947, almost everyone would have lost neighbors, relatives and community members in the war and might have been a bit more resilient. There probably wasn't a lot of grief counseling available, but Mylo certainly needed some.

What I really think: This reminded me a little of Mark Teague's The Doom Machine (2009) which I can't get to circulate even though it's shiny. I may wait to purchase this one even though the 1947 Roswell setting is fabulous.