Our main character - Little Alien - is a neurodivergent child and we follow her as she tries to navigate life from primary school to secondary school. The book is written in the second person and you gradually realise that an older ‘Little Alien’ is addressing her younger self. It doesn’t make the reading easy, but isn’t that the point. Life for Little Alien isn’t easy. She struggles to understand social cues and often has ‘meltdowns’ which has caused problems at school. She seems to have one friend only. Home life isn’t easy for her either as her mother has mental health problems and is often hospitalized. But Little Alien is a tough little character who is quite resilient and observant. She is also passionate about language and gets frustrated when her teachers give her books that are for children. She becomes taken with the Voynich Manuscript, an indecipherable manuscript and she embarks on a project to understand it. Her one friend, Bobby, joins her in her quest, getting them both into trouble. You do feel sympathy with her as she seems to be very much on the outside, and you do get frustrated with the behaviour of the adults around her. However, I felt that I was left unsatisfied with the ending. I felt that we were being teased with the Manuscript and her love of linguistics and I expected to see it leading to some place that would make her happy. I felt it stopped half way there.

I feel conflicted about this book. On the one hand I completely related to Little Alien, having felt that way all my life. Trying to understand social cues and language has always been confusing when people don't say what they really mean. This book shows the confusion that goes on in the mind of a neurodivergent child, the battle to find their place and the ignorance and cruelty that can be experienced when you just don't fit neatly into a box.

But on the other hand, the story didn't really go anywhere. It felt meandering and just ended quite abruptly. I felt sad at the loneliness of Little Alien, and frustrated at the lack of understanding shown by her caregivers and educators. I expected the special interest in the Voynich Manuscript to go somewhere it didn't. I longed to observe Little Alien thriving in the world of linguistics and for her to have found her place in the world.

Certainly an interesting story but just left me a bit frustrated and confused. Perhaps this was intentional, but it just didn't fulfil my hopes when starting this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked that the main character is neurodiverse. They are sympathetic and you can feel their vulnerability. I liked the language and library aspects too.

I am not sure I have read many books written in the second person before, it is a construction that is rarely used, and I think, for me, this kept me a little distanced from the action in the book. I wasn’t quite sure what the author was trying to do by using second person until the end, where it became evident that it is the main character talking back to her younger self from a more informed position in the future but, as this wasn’t clear to me until almost the end of the book, I found it an uncomfortable approach. However, I believe that this is a large part of the point , the idea is to keep the reader at a distance and in the dark about why things are as they are in the book, because this is how Little Alien feels in the world. From that perspective, it is clever and successful, but doesn’t make for easy reading.

The book wasn’t at all what I was expecting and even by the end, and weeks after I finished reading it, I can’t decide how I feel about it. I think it provides a valuable insight into what it is like to be neurodivergent in a neurotypical world but, as I have no personal experience of this, how would I know? No one seems to care about Little Alien and her struggles, beyond her parents who don’t know how to help and have problems of their own, and no one wants to help. If this is how life is for neurodivergent children in society, it makes me furious. Little Alien does her best; she has one friend with whom she shares her obsession with linguistics and the Voynich Manuscript, but even he annoys her when he tries to be more of an expert than she is and takes over, getting them into scrapes.

I wanted to love this book – I thought I would given I have loved books on a similar theme and the books which are given as comparators to this – but what I mainly feel having read this book is profoundly sad. Sad that someone so disconnected from the world is not really seen or helped by any of the people around her. I didn’t find the warmth and humour that other people seem to have seen – I wish I had – perhaps if you can find it, this book will be more for you than it was for me.

This book wasn't for me - I appreciated the different point of view in terms of the narration, but it felt slow and meandering, without being enjoyable. I had high expectations (Rosie Project vibes) but they weren't realised!

I liked this book a lot!
It's funny and sad at the same time, and I really enjoyed the 2nd person narration style.

And even though it's a coming-of-age novel, I would have enjoyed reading about Little Alien's adult life a bit more..

In this book, a young girl grapples with growing up on the spectrum and feeling that she must be from another planet. Her fascination with the Voynich manuscript and her mother's mental health issues play a large role in how events unfold.

I enjoyed the way the book presented the main character's point of view, and didn't mind the second-person point of view as much as I would have thought. However, the book felt like it got off to a pretty slow start - maybe appropriately, I was only really gripped by the novel's events when the main character first learned about and became obsessed with the Voynich manuscript. Then the ending felt abrupt, where I wanted to read more about the main character's new "informal" job as assistant to a linguistics researcher.

Overall, a good choice for people interested in neurodivergent points of view, particularly on growing up, although I felt it could have been paced better.

I received an eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly I didn’t love this book as much as I thought I was going to. There were some really fun and heartfelt moments but it took me waaaay too long to read and I just didn’t feel immersed in the story. Definitely an unpopular opinion here as I’ve seen many great reviews! Huge thanks to NetGalley for this Arc!

Life hacks for a little alien was a sweet little read. Seeing life through the eyes of little alien I could resonate with her experiences and her search to understand her place in such a strange world. I loved the second person perspective as it made me feel the situations she was in. The misunderstandings and the frustrations - why did they treat me like that? And it shows how important it is to understand why people are the way they are. I also felt the overwhelm from too much sensory input. Very well written! The only downside for me were the footnotes. They always distract me and disrupt the flow of a book.

I feel conflicted about this book. On one hand, it was a clever and interesting description of neurodivergence, how it feels to feel different and how rigid and unforgiving our society can be. On the other, I was waiting for something to happen, for someone to see and it / they didn’t. Perhaps that is the point, perhaps this is a reflection of so many children who are failed by parents and systems designed to protect and support them but it fell a little flat for me.

This is the tale of a young girl who thinks of herself as a little alien. Struggling to fit in, never feeling that she belongs, either within her family or the wider world. Whilst she is able to talk she is often mute, citing (to herself) that it's far too difficult to find the words to say what she thinks. One night, being unable to sleep, she comes across a programme about the Voynich manuscript, an illustrated codex written in an unknown language. She is sure this will explain all life's mysteries and so, with her friend Bobby, sets about trying to make sense of it.

The story is told from the second person point of view which isn't my favoured style, however felt ideal for telling this tale. There is also much about language and grammar, a topic I usually find fascinating. Sadly I found a lot of it wordy and unnecessarily complicated. A bit less of this and more exploration of the dynamics of the Little Alien's family and their own mental health struggles would have improved my rating. The characterisation of the Little Alien shouts neuro-diversity but none of the professionals she interacts with seem to join the dots making for, at times, a sad and heartbreaking tale. The epilogue seemed a bit random, I think I understand the point the author was trying to make but it just didn't work for me.

My rating is 3.5 but didn't feel able to round up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my advance reader copy in return for my honest and unbiased review.

I loved this book, so different.
Little Alien is three years old and says her first words, from there we are told her story as she starts school, all the time struggling to understand the strange world around her. It probably doesn’t help to have an anxious Mum, who spends her life reading How to books. One night, whilst being unable to sleep, Little Alien watches a programme on the Voynich Manuscript, a medieval codex and she knows she must learn more about it.
A totally different book and a lovely read, I liked the twist at the end.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

Thanks Quercus Books and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!

I went into Life Hacks for Little Aliens hoping for a quirky, engaging story, but unfortunately, I had to DNF this one—it just didn’t grab me. Rather than a strong narrative pulling me in, it felt more like a series of loosely connected scenarios designed to highlight how inept the characters around the protagonist are. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—it’s actually very true to life—but without a compelling plot or deeper character development, it started to feel repetitive.

The writing itself is sharp and observational, and I can see how some readers might find its humour relatable. But for me, it lacked the momentum to keep me invested. If you enjoy slice-of-life stories that lean heavily on social awkwardness and human folly, this might be worth a try. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me.

I think I must have been reading a different book from all the other reviewers because I found none of things that they eulogised about. Maybe my copy was swapped out by a Big Alien?

Sorry to say that I found no redeeming features, all I read about was everyday people doing everyday things and, generically, everyday things are mostly b-o-r-i-n-g and actually that is the word that I will use to sum up my review. The book was boring but the Aliens, of many sizes, that I know, are not.

A unique take on neurodivergency - although i understand the choice to use second person perspective to further illustrate the main character's alienation, i also found it somewhat alienated me and i found it difficult at first to really engage with the MC despite all that was unfolding around her.

I found this book to be a delightful exploration of a child who just doesn't fit in both due to their own make up and family circumstances. It was whimsical yet quite profound and I really liked the exploration of linguistics and the tongue in cheek book recommendations.

Life Hacks for a Little Alien was such a unique, quirky and tender look at a child who is neurodivergent.

It was told from such a unique angle, a second person narrative which puts you at the heart of the character enabling you to see and feel all the emotions she is experiencing. My own son is autistic so it really hit me with what this character was experiencing and it felt like I'd snuck into the mind of my own son for a little bit.

I think the author did such an excellent job, even down to the little things such as the 'assessment' which was then forgotten about, lost in a sea of other work, which when you've got a child of your own on the spectrum, you know how that can feel.

Totally unique, cleverly done, heartbreaking, tender and a must read.

I read this at occasional moments (lunchtime/on the bus) over a number of months so it’s perhaps not fair to give it only a low rating… but if it had gripped me more, I’d have embraced it fully.

Bit too off beat for me but some good bits…particularly the trips to London.

Seeing things through the eyes of an unusual child was, I found, hard work… but maybe that’s part of the point.

I am, however, intrigued to learn more about the Voynich manuscript!

My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a copy of “ Life Hacks For A Little Alien “ for an honest review.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book , which deals with someone who is growing up neurodivergent.We get to see how life is perceived through their eyes. How they are treated by others and the effects it has on the family as a whole.
It was humorous , but also heartbreaking at times and I’m sure it’ll be a book that stays with me for a while.
A gem of a book that I’ve already recommended to others

This is simply a delightful , charming debut! I studied linguistics at university and went on to become a SENCO (special educational needs coordinator) so for me this book hit so many levels. My love of languages resonated in the pages as Little Alien discovers her own curiosity for languages, living, dead and still to be deciphered. Her struggles to make sense of the world around her brought back memories of so many children I’ve worked with and I wanted to shout at the way she was so often treated and jump up and down for her. I laughed out loud and my heart broke for her so many times. This is such a beautifully written, quirky, tender story that I’ll be recommending to all my friends.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Quercus Books for a copy in exchange for a review.