An engaging middle grade story about unexpected visitors to a small town in Texas. Pineda and his friends are scared and shocked when soldiers start falling from the sky and the military rolls into town — they learn it’s for a military exercise practicing for a communist invasion, but that doesn’t make it any less threatening. Then things get even weirder for Pineda when he discovers an alien girl in his barn!

The story is told in multiple points of view, primarily between Pineda and the girl he names Luisa. Luisa’s perspective shows her fear and worries as an outsider in this town, and as kid separated from her family. She learns quickly, and Pineda and his friends welcome her into their circle and try to discover more about her and how to get her home. The final chapters jump into other perspectives, giving further insights into more of the character’s minds and helping set the scene for a big finale.

I can see this book appealing to kids who already know they like sci fi stories, and can imagine it a fun way to introduce others to the genre who haven’t tried it yet. I appreciated that it’s an historical fiction book too, with actual details from a military takeover of a small Texas town. It will be fun to talk this book up to curious readers!

Our story begins with Pineda in class with his friends and they are doing a Duck and Cover drill since it's March 1952 and right in the middle of the Cold War. When they look out the window after the drill, they see men parachuting into town because they want to carry out training exercises in their small Texas farming community. These exercises also include taking over the local government and even the school, supposedly to train for the Cold War. When Pineda discovers an alien named Luisa in the barn, he realizes the real reason the government is there; they are searching for aliens and Pineda realizes that he needs to keep Luisa safe and help her find her parents so she can go home.

I think that students from Texas will enjoy this, especially the author's note which explains that elements of the story really happened. There are lots of themes in this book so teachers and librarians will really enjoy it. I might pass on purchasing for now since I'm not sure it will circulate in my library.

I predict this will end up being a readers' choice nominee for my state's Rebecca Caudill award. The story is adventurous and engaging, and there are some interesting backgrounds including Ernesto and Pineda's Cuban background and an African American soldier who outranks his colleagues but is still treated as less-than. I hadn't realized that in the 50's a town in Texas was the setting for a military exercise in which they had a mock Communist invasion. At this time in history, citizens questioned military intelligence, including whether they knew about alien existence. The author weaves an alien visitor into a tumultuous event in history, while examining what it means to belong. In the best way, its the children, and the family that knows what it's like to be outsiders who come to the rescue.

In my youth services department, I had a lot of middle grade readers who were really interested in war stories and military experiences. There was also a large demand for paranormal stories. This will hit the sweet spot for readers who like both.

"What Fell from the Sky" is a middle grade historical science fiction novel by Adrianna Cuevas. Pineda is a middle schooler in rural Texas in the 1950s. Things get pretty weird when the US Army takes over their town for a military anti-communism exercise, but they get even weirder when Pineda discovers an alien in his family's barn! He names her Luisa and recruits his friends to help her find her parents. As the son of an American father and a Cuban mother, Pineda knows what it feels like to be a bit different, and this helps him empathize with Luisa's situation and makes him the best person to convince people to help Luisa and her parents escape. A funny and heartfelt story, "What Fell from the Sky" is a recommended purchase for all middle grade fiction collections, especially where sci fi and historical fiction are popular.

"I guess sometimes we just need people to help us feel like we belong."
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It's March 1952 in Lariat County, TX and Pineda wants to just hang out with his friends Junior, Ernesto and Patsy, but during class they see men parachuting from the sky into their town. They've decided to carry out a training exercise in their tiny farming town, taking over the school and the local government. Pineda knows they also have two aliens because he's keeping their daughter, whom he named Luisa, safe in his family's barn. He's promised to help reunite her with her parents and save them from the government, but it soon proves easier said than done. With the help of his friends, the townspeople and the only Black officer in the army, Pineda fights for ALL Americans, whether they were born here or even on another planet.
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Our differences are what makes us special. They're what should unite us. Adrianna Cuevas tells a wild MG story with her latest book, but at the heart it's about not being afraid of those who are different than us. Embracing various cultures, families, stories, etc. is what America was founded on and I believe we've lost sight of that as a nation. Fans of Stranger Things, The Goonies, Back to the Future and ET will love this adventurous, historical fiction tale that has so much truth to it! Be sure to read the Author's Note at the end to learn more about this Texas origin story.

CW: war (theme), war hysteria, racism, microaggressions, xenophobia

What makes us American? And what would you do if the US military suddenly invaded your town? In a world where we're constantly getting told that it's us vs. them, Adrianna shakes up true history by getting us all to root for the chickens, aliens, and pie-baking ladies. This book had me hooked from the very first chapter - I read it all in one day!